The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-01-16

hay, the majority of her yearly forage coming from the western states. The services of the southern county agents have increased the local hay produc-
 tion to the extent that Alabama pro- duced 1.293,00 tons of hay during the year 1918, as compared with 166,0OO
 tons in 1909. During the period from 1909 to 1918, Georgia increased hay production 426 per cent; North Caro- lima, 1S3 per cent; Florida. 362 per cent, and South Carolina, 253 per cent. Ac- cording to recent crop estimates the hypothetical value of the farm crops of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missis- sippi North Carolina and South Caro- lima amounted to $S39 213,0 900 in 1909 and $2106396000 in 1917. an increase of 250 per cent
 GAINS IN LIVE STOCK
 It is only logical that as the produc-
 tion of corn and hay increases in the southern states the number of hogs and cattle raised and kept show cor responding gains. The razorback hog has been traditional of the south since
 the civil war. but of late years these
 native rustlers have been replaced by well-finished porkers of desirable con- formation and breeding which are more economical in the manufacture of pork
 under southern conditions than are
 the grain-fed hogs of the corn belt in
 that middle western territory.
 According to recent crop estimates
 by the bureau of crop estimates, there are 65,066,000 hogs in the United States,
 of which 29,651,000 animals. or 45.5 per
 cent, are on farms in the six corn belt
 states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska. Mis-
 souri, Indiana and Ohio. while 21,756,- 900 porkers. or 33.4 per cent, are To- cated in the 15 southern states, and the ntvasy n. over the remaining 27 states of the
 union Under present conditions the
 south ranks second only to the corn belt as the leading pork producing section of the country. The remark able fact about the growth of the hog business in the cotton states is
 that it has developed rapidly during the last five years as direct result of the untiring efforts of county agents
 to popularize pork production. Climat- ically the south is the ideal livestock section of this country and present in- dications are that it is en route to come into it's own.
 NOTABLE HOG SHIPMENTS Indicative of the rapid rise of the pork industry. 1T counties of southern Alabama, although they did not ship
 to market a single carload of hogs
 during the year 1912-1913. marketed
 A,oC2 CdTlO9uS or nOSS UuF1nS the pS-
 riod from April 1. 1917, to April l, 1918. Mississippi exported 7244 hogs in 1914. while in 1917 she disposed of 8S,730 fat porkers. an increase of 1924 per cent. For the most part the southern hogs , are developed inexpensively on such forage crop as soy beans, peanuts, cowpeas, chufas, potatoes, native grasses and clover. while corn is used
 as finish feed to firm. compact and
 bloom the flesh to the desirable mar llet quality.
 The hog supply has developed with the increase in corn production. Tn 1909 North Carolina raised 34,000,000
 bushels of corn. while in 1918 it har- vested 64365000 bushels and fattened 1.599,000 hogs. Georgia produced ap- proximately 29.475.000 bushels more corn in 1918 than 1909. and during 1918 handled 2.507.000 hogs. Similarly in the case of other southern states, increased yields of corn and pork have been intimately related while the ex- agencies of wartime production have speeded up the farmers and. largely in accord with high market values, have | expedited pork manufacture. Similar. | ly, as a result of greater hay product | ion. more cattle have been kept in the sonth. In 1914 Mississippi marketed | only S6,229 fat cattle. while in 1916 it | shipped 156,237 animals to the St. Louis market. an increase of 1S1 per cent. During 1915 Mississippi farmers sold 6,S50 head of sheep in St. Louis. while