The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1917-04-18


when all the velvet beans were plowed
under.
| In Arkansas, oats, after velvet
beans plowed under, yielded So BUSH
els of grain as against SO bushels
after oat stubble; wheat gave yields,
respectively, of 16 bushels after vel
vet-bean stubble and 10 bushels after
wheat stubble.
Pasturirg.
Velvet beans are most commonly
utilized by pasturing the crop after
it is fully matured or when it has
been killed by frosts. The bean will
remain on the ground all winter with
little or no decay, especially on sandy
soil, so that the pasturage can be
preserved long time. Most COM
monty, however, it is pastured
promptly after the vines are mature
or dead, as live stock eat nearly all
the dried leaves and smaller stems, as
we'll as the pods and seeds. For fin
lshing animals, good velvet-bean pas
turage, together with corn or a SINH
lar feed, will produce meat very
cheaply.
Hay.
Hay IS sometimes made from velvet
beans and is considered to be of fair
quality but not of equal value to that
of cowpeas. The vines are so long
and tangled, however, that moving is
very difficult, so that haying the crop
is not often practiced.
Velvet-Bean Meal.
There is large and growing mar
ket for velvet-bean meal, prepared by
grinding the entire pods and seeds.
AS a concentrated feed this has gain
ed an excellent reputation on the mar
ket. The yield of beans to the acre
ranges from 20 to so bushels, being
greatest when the vines are we'll sup
ported above the ground. The price
offered for these beans is often at
tractive enough to make it good policy
to harvest the beans before pasturing
the remainder of the crop.
Velvet-bean seeds weigh 60 pounds
to the bushel. One hundred pounds
of the dry pods will yield / bushel of
seed.
Feeding Value.
The high value for feed of the pods
and seeds of velvet beans has long
been recognized by farmers. Excel
lent results are secured with beef cat
tie, mich cows, and hogs. At the
Florida Experiment Station careful
experiments have been conducted to
determine the relative feeding value
OF velvet beans in the pod in COM
parlson with cottonseed meal.
In the case of milch cows it has
been found that about 2.7 pounds of
velvet beans in the pod produce as
much milk as l pound of cotton-seed
meal when each is fed with wheat
bran and sorghum silage. But as the
velvet-bean ration is much cheaper
than the cottonseed meal, the cheap
est milk was produced with the vel
vet bean.
When hogs are fattcned on velvet
beans alone they make good gains,
but the fat produced has dark color
and disagreeable taste. This seems
never to be the case, however, when
velvet beans are fed as part only Of
the ration. The Florida Experiment
Station tests gave profitable results
from corn and velvet beans mixed, the
best gains being made from a feed
consisting of three parts corn and one
part cracked velvet beans. Hogs u.s.
ually eat only the seeds, readily she'll
ing them from the pods.
Enemies.
The velvet bean is notably free
from disease or insect enemies. The
plants are entirely immune to the
wilt that effects cowpeas, and only
under very unusual conditions are
affected by root-knot.
Only one insect, the caterpillar of a
moth, ever causes any particular in
jury to velvet beans. This caterpillar
usually appears about the time the
vines are in flower, and its presence
is made evident by the holes eaten in
the leaves. When the caterpillar is
very abundant the vines may be part
ly or wholly defoilated. This insect
may be destroyed by spraying with
Paris green, but it is rarely profitable
to DO this. Fortunately this insect is
rare or at least has thus far caused
little damage north of Florida.
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POULTRY IN RACK YARD