The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1917-04-26

SOY BEANS ON niGrt.
! the seeds are richer in feeding value.
There are many different varieties,
which vary in time of ripening from 80
days from sowing to the entire grow
| ing season.
| Soy beans, like cowpeas, are sown
broadcast or drilled, but, being erect,
are well suited to cultivation in rows.
Rows should be placed three or more
feet apart, and the seeding should be
from one and one-half to two pecks
per acre. This quantity Of seed should,
ing. The seed should be planted not
deeper than two inches, and as this Is
still new crop in many place inocula-
ton should be practiced. 1t is not well
to plant soy beans near to woods, as
rabbits are very fond of the plant.
If used for hay, soy beans should be
cut when the first leaves begin to turn
yellow; If for seed, the cutting should
not be done until the leaves have near
ly all fallen. The pods of many varie-
ties shatter easily, and should be
harvested as soon as ripe and in the
morning, when pods are wet with dew.
Soy beans are harvested for hay in
the same manner as cowpeas, but are
| cured with less difficulty. The hay Is
fully as nutritious as that from cow
peas and is relished by all farm ami
mails.
| Lespedeza.
| Lespedeza is q self-seeding annual
legume, which is spread over the en-
tire cotton region except on the light
sandy soils of Florida. 1t is univer-
ally used as late summer pasturage,
but on fertile soils it makes such q
heavy growth that 1t is profitably
harvested for hay. On fields that have
become barren and unproductive les
| pedeza will do much to restore the fer
tility of The soil, and commonly it ap-
pears, even If not sown.
| Seeding should be done in late win
| ter or early spring Mt the rate of about
| one-half bushel of seed per acre When
grown for hay it is commonly sown
with oats, the oats being sown in Sep
| TENDER or October and the leSpedeZa
| in the following February or March,
after first narrowing the ground. The
principal part of the lespedeza plant is
| leaves, the stems being very slender
1t makes hay equal to red clover or
cowpeas in quality.
Alfalfa.
On land where 1t will succeed, al
| falfa Is one of the best crops for a
| permanent meadow, and is also valu-
| able as a pasture plant. Alfalfa needs
| rich, well-drained land having loose
subsoil and containing good supply
of lime. The black prairie region of
Alabama and Mississippi, the alluvial
sections along the Tennessee Missis-
sippi, and Red rivers, northeastern
Texas, and the region of the Rio
Grande are all adapted to the produc-
ton of alfalfa. Wherever the soil is
! of limestone origin, or contains a high
percentage Of lime, alfalfa is nearly
sure to succeed. Sandy soils and dry
clay uplands have not proven salts
factory for alfalfa, neither does it
thrive in the Gulf-coast region.
Many soils not naturally adapted to
alfalfa have been made suitable by
special treatment, and the acreage of
this crop is increasing very fast as a
result of the utilization of such areas.
Some wet lands become suited to al
falfa when thoroughly drained. Lands
newly drained and many other we'll
drained lands commonly need an ap-
plication of lime for alfalfa. From
one to two tons of burnt lime, two or
three tons of slaked lime, or three or
four tons Of finely ground limestone
per acre are good applications.
The seedbed should be thoroughly
prepared before sowing alfalfa seed !;
that is, it should be finely pulverized
well compacted, and free from weeds.
Well-cultivated fields of early varie-
ties of cowpeas or soy beans, early po-
tatoes, or similar crops which mature
early may be prepared easily for al
falfa.
FalI-sown alfalfa should yield from
three to five cuttings the following
|
season and average about one ton of
cured hay per acre each cutting. There
is no better hay than alfalfa for
dairy, beef cattle, sheep, and young
growing stock of all kinds. 1t Is also
valuable feed for working animals,
but care should be taken not to feed
1t excessively. It affords splendid
pasturage for hogs but care must be
| taken not to pasture It too closely nor
too late in the season. In general,
pasturing alfalfa is not to be recon-
mended in the South, as the stand is
frequently injured, then weeds thrive
and invade the field.
~~~~~~~~~~
| A Mans Job.