Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-03-30

SOIil OIl WbCiS NSi'NS were turned under produced double the yield of land where corn follow ed corn. In another demonstration corn following velvet beans yielded 16 bushels more an acre than corn after cotton.
 Velvet beans increased the yield of oats per acre the next year from l1 to 3l bushels.
 Velvet beans increased the yield of sugar cane the following year over II tons an acre and the yield of mar ketable sugar 1920 pounds an acre.
 The fertilizing effect of the velvet beans lasts for at least two years.
 Feeding Value of Velvet Beans.
 Velvet beans produce an enormous quantity of rich feed at less cost than any other farm crop and when pas tured through the winter in the fields by live sock, cost absolutely nothing for gathering The pods may be gath cred cheaply and pods and beans be fed together when the fields are too muddy to be pastured during the spring and summer.
 Farm animals will seldom eat the beans until the vines have been kill ed by frost. The beans then become palatable. Where the beans are left all winter in the field, the rain and cold softens the pods and the beans and the stock seem to do better on them than in the fall. This is par icularly true of hogs.
 Pods stored in dry place become very hard. The pods and beans are ground together into a fine meal. A coarse meal does not make satisfac- tory feed One hundred pounds of find ground velvet beans in the pod cattle and sheep equal to 90 pounds of corn. Most hogs raisers have found this meal an unsatisfactory feed for pigs, as the pods are too woody.
 Farmers who raise velvet beans have found that they get as good re- turns from soaking the beans in the pod IF to 24 hours as they do from grinding them and the soaking is much cheaper. Mules and horses as we'll as cattle like the soaked beans in the pod
 Farm animals should be full fed on other feed before being turned into a field of velvet beans and the first day should not be allowed in the field for more than an hour The next day let them stay in the field little longer, the third day still longer, until at the end of 10 days or two weeks they may be allowed in the field all the time.
 For Mules and Horses.
 Mules and horses kept in field of velvet beans through the winter keep "hogs fat" all the time without other feed, except during storms. They are in the best condition for work in the spring.
 A few weeks ago farmer in How ard county went to his bank to bor- row enough money to carry him through the spring and summer. He wanted only half as much as other farmers were borrowing who had the same acreage of crops. The banker was interested to know why. The far mer said that the reason was he raised velvet beans last year and had kept his teams and cattle through the winter in the field of velvet beans and had not needed to feed them even one ear fcorn. He had kept his corn to feed his teams while mak- ing crop. Had all the farmers in Arkansas done the same thing. they would have saved buying $60,000,000 worth of corn this spring.
 Dr. E. R. Lloyd says that crushed velvet beans in the hull and corn in equal proportions make a balanced walton foVr p,,,,1oc orI 1o~coc
 Velvet Beans for Beef Cattle.
 Beef cattle kept in a field of velvet beans through the winter will gain in weight every month without oth- CT feed, except during storms. They gather the crop themselves. One mod erately fertile soil two acres of vel vet beans will keep one mature beef animal in flesh all winter. On thin ner land larger acreage is needed.
 Velvet beans ground in the pod have half the feed value for beef cattle of an equal weight of cotton seed meal. Steers weighting 1000 pounds each at the beginning of the fattening period eat five to six pounds of the meal at the start and 12 pounds or more daily per head per day when on full feed
 One of the most successful cattle men in the South has solved the cheap production of beef on his farm. He buys worn-out upland and sows in February bushel of lespedeza seed an acre. Three acres of this pasture will supply all the needs of beef animal through the summer As soon as frost has killed the lespedeZa and the velvet beans. his beef cattle are turned into fields of velvet beans, where they gain in weight every month through the winter. ;.
 When the land becomes muddy in March. the cattle are taken out of the velvet bean fields and are fed four to six weeks until the lespedeza pasture is ready. By this system the beef cattle make steady gains from birth until ready to market, and are not fed any feed during the year that they do not gather themselves, except