The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1917-03-02
VALUE OF VELVET BEANS
AS A MONEY CROP.

The velvet beans have made a rep
! utation for themselves in South Mis-
slssippl as a feed for dairy cattle
and for carrying stock cattle through
the winters. Scott, of the Florida
Station. reports a yield of 20 bushels
to 30 bushels of shelled beans per
acre; and that three pounds of the
beans in the hull are equal to one
pound of cotton seed meal for milk
production. DR.. Tracey reports in
Farmers Bulletin No. 300 that 20
acres sown to velvet beans in Florida
furnished half the grazing for 80
cows during ~ days in winter, after
which 10 tons of beans in the bulls
were gathered; and that 80 acres of
velvet beans in Southern Georgia fur
nished grazing for 100 head of cattle
for four months. Seventy days of
| grazing on velvet bean pasture was
sufficient to put cattle in a market
able condition. The farmer who has
cattle to carry through the winter
could find no better pasture than a
good field of velvet beans.
The cost of raising velvet beans is
practically nothing as they al be
planted in the corn and worked as
the corn is cultivated with scarcely
any etxra work. The seed will cost
very little, as one peck will plant an
acre, and a bushel of seed will cost
about Sl.50. Practically as much
corn can be produced per acre with
beans as without them. Therefore,
We should average about 25 bushels
Of corn per acre in this county with
the beans. and about one ton of beans
in the hulls. Prof. Lloyd informed
the writer that the Mcneil Station
made more than $500 pounds per
acre last year, and more than 5000
pounds year before last. There will
be more than 21a tons of vines pro-
duced per acre, and they will test
a little above 2 per cent nitrogen, or
in other words, there would be 100
pounds of nitrogen in the 2E tons.
About one-third of this nitrogen
would be obtained from the soil, and
the other two-thirds from the air.
There would be 60 pounds of more
nitrogen obtained from the air, and
| this nitrogen is worth more than 20
cents per pound at the present time.
Therefore, it can be easily seen what
kind of a soil builder the velvet bean
is.
The velvet bean in the hull is find
| ing a market in Alabama, where it
is selling at SIS to SlS per ton, and
is being ground and made into mixed
! feeds. After the velvet bean be-
| comes better known on the market,
it should bring a better price than
| now, because their chemical analysis
| shows them to be better than wheat
! bran or wheat shorts. Wheat shorts
are as follows: Protein, 1868 pei
cent; fat, 4.6 per cent; carbohydrates
SOL per cent. Velvet beans show
Protein, Is per cent; fat, 4.25 pei
| cent; and carbohydrates. 51.30 pei
cent. Cotton seed meal shows about
the following: Protein, 80 per cent
Eat, 1912 per cent; and carbohydrates
24.6 per cent. If velvet bean mea.
was to be valued according to the
amount Of protein contained, as com
pared to cotton seed meal, it would
be worth about O19 per ton on the
retail market; but. if it were sold or
, the amount of protein contained
compared to wheat shorts, it woulC
sell for about $40 per ton on the re.
tail market. This meal, if fed If
connection with cotton seed meal tC
dairy cows, ought to sell for about
S25 or $50 per on through the cows.
HARRY c. BELL.
County Agent.