Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-02-07
DEMONSTRATION
BY EXPERTS FOR
? PASTURE WEALTH
Expert A, S. Rubinow Writes
on Subject Exclusively
for the Semi = Weekly
Journal
BY S. A. RUB1Now


There is an old saying in North
Carolina that Tar Heel farmers
spend a great deal of their time
fighting grass, so that they can
grow tobacco and cotton, with which
to realize money 10 buy the grass
necessary to- keep up their small
amount of stock. 1t is fact, how
ever, that very few North Carolina
farmers really know how to produce
hay and pastures. ....
In Individual counties here and
there. III the state, changes are TAX
ing place in methods of farming,
thanks TO the demonstration work
of the United States department of
tural college. In one county partic~
ularly eighty demonstration pas
lures are now being handled Coop
eratively by eighty farmers and the
farm demonstration agent, and
where formerly Martin county was
neither pasture nor a cattle county,
both Of these indispensable phases
Of successful ard profitable agricul-
ture are now becoming quite COM
mon, lharks to the work of James
L. Holiday.
Before he took up demonstration
work, Mr. Holiday was a successful
farmer and rural pastor who farm
who preached because he loved hui
man beings. 1t would not be illog-
ical to correlate the rapid introduc-
ton of the family COW in Martin
county with Mr.. Holidays preach
ins.s and demonstrating. Certainly
it is noticeable fact, that in spite
Of free range conditions and the
S1r1Va ilinO 11n1y "a ctr +1oo
family COW and the permanent pas
ture are spotting Martin county s
landscape.
IA Long Jump
From no pastures in 1916 to eighty
pastures in 1919 is a long jump. Mr..
Holiday realized, carly in the dem
onstration game, that talking with
out examples produced little results
lie knew that there was a very ur-
gent need for live stock in his
county, but ne also knew that that
would have to be preceded by a de-
yelopment of pastures.
Therefore, to demonstrate the use
and value of permanent pasture,
and to show folks how to do the
work correctly, he took two acres of
his best land, on his own farm, and
planted these in a pasture mixture
He prepared the soil thoroughly in
the fall, seeded the land on the first
day of March and put in the fol-
lowing mixture:
ital Liam rye grass ..,S pounds
tea Top ....8 pounds
Orchard grass ....:.,,S pounds
AIs!he cover .............S pounds
me- cIoEef ........4 pounds
Red or Japan clover $3.50. 4 pounds
This seed mixture cost $12 TO
IN the picture was augmented wnen
the whole field was top-dress2 ed
with seven two-horse. wagon loads
Of stable manure. By early May
the grass was tall enough for graz
ing. 1t was cut twice during the
1t would do better if kept moved,
and the field produced four tons OF
fine hay. -
.-.-.. Farmers Surprised
The success of this demonstration
was a startling surprise to the farm
eEs of Martin county. 1t was a les
son in visual instruction. WHAT
they had~once heard in meetings and
Institutes they had forgotten; but
This they could see: Twenty-Five Of
Representation pastures that year.
A survey was recently made which
showed that from an investment of
800 an acre for manure, seed, lime,
and labor, the farmers of Martin
county, who have put in these dem
onstration pastures, have received
an average return of approximately
$3.50 for each acre in grass.
AS a concrete example, one Martin
county demonstration farmer, who
said that his pasture acre was worth
$3.50. to him, stated that during a
portion of last summer that acre
supported two horses, two cows,
eight shoats, and 80 head of poui-
try. All of the grazing was done
after the pasture had been mown.
Another daYonnSfTo finY h az
calves, and 100 head of poultry or
his pasture demonstration acre. lie
couldn't. say enough in praise of
Mr.: Holiday and the. government
method of introducing pastures,
While many of the 80 demonstrat Tor $
claim that their hogs have done bet
ter on the pasture than they ordi-
hnaar ry do on green corn when they
Bankers interested
The work has progressed to the
point where the bankers are taking
an active interest in it. This is al
ways a good sign because bankers
The banks of Oak City and Rober-
sonville, two of. the small towns in
Martin county, have advanced
money to farmers, without any in
terest, and on their own initiative, to
sow 20 acres of permanent pasture.
The only obligation in the action was
that the farmers follow Mr.. Hoili-
days government methods.
And in two years time, the work
has progressed far enough to en-
able a local seedman to sell about
$4,000 worth of seed for pasture
mixtures, for Martin county, where
formerly no grass seed had ever been
sold.
And with the development OF
grass and feed, is coming the family
COW. Out is going the scrub ami
the sea, hog cholera is being elm
mated, the soil is being enriched, and
the heginning of a new and move