Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-12-20
Living at Home Is Now Essential

Living at Home Is Now Essential
r. T. c., Rogers, Ca, writes:
We operate a large farm and
have been raising cotton and
buying everything else. The
boil weevil has eaten us up two
years in succession, and we have
decided to raise everything that
the hands and stock use and
grow cotton as a surplus. We
are going to add, a dairy to our
/ farm. Is sugar pummels or ba-
gasse good for feed? We have
several tons of velvet beans.
Are they good for hogs, COWS
and mules? Are the velvet bean
hulls good for feed? Are they
good for fertilizer?
Your policy of undertaking TO pro-
vide all the food needed for your
hands and stock is to be highly COM
mended. 1t is the first step in at
tempting to produce cotton under
Eoll weevil conditions. 1t is not only
safe and sane policy, but protects,
in part at least, against the financial
loss which might result if all the
cotton crop were destroyed.
Under proper management and the
wise choice of early-maturing vari-
cites there is no reason why as much
as SO per cent of a crop of cotton
should not be made in many parts
of the state of Georgia, even I'M
der conditions of heavy boil weevil
infestation. This statement is borne
out by the fact that an average of
one-half bale per acre has been
raised on many plantations in south
west Georgia, although the weevil
Mas infested that territory for the
last seven or more years.
Sugar cane begasse has consider
able feeding value. 1t probably does
not equal that Of good silage, but
would make fairly good substitute
therefor. To get the best results
from this material it should be put
in a silo Immediately after it is made.
AS a great deal of Juice is ex-
pressed from the stalks, it is gem
orally best to add 100 pounds of
water to each 100 pounds of pomace
or begasse, as it is put into the
silo, and the mass should be tramped
and packed tight. In experiments
made with sorghum begasse we have
found it almost equal in feeding val
ue to silage from this crop.
Velvet beans make a very good
feed for COWS and beef cattle. If the
bulls are ground with them it is de-
sirable to grind them very fine. The
bulls are so sharp and have such
fine, cutting edges that they may
&,.oo Nf hnn
however, they are less likely to in
jure cattle. For mules and other
work stock, velvet beans should be
fed only in limited amounts. A ra-
ton of one-third velvet beans with
out the hullsN mixed, say with two
thirds corn meal, should make very
good ration for hogs.
For mules we would mix 500
pounds corn and cob meal, ESQ
ponds oats, $50 pounds velvet bean
meal and 100 pounds cottonseed meal
or high-grade peanut meal.
For dairy COWS we would mix vel
vet beans and corn and cob meal in
equal proportions. The addition, say,
of 400 pounds of cottonseed meal to
each ton of the above mixture, would
be desirable. For beef cattle it is
not necessary to add the cottonseed
meal unless you desire to do so.
Velvet bean hulls have very lit
tie feeding value. In fact, we rather
regard their elimination from the ra-
ton as desirable. Under normal con-
ditions the live stock work most
of the hulls, if not all of them, out
of their mouths. This is especially
true of hogs which are turned in
fields to gather them before the hulls
become very hard.
The fertilizing value of velvet
bean hulls would be relatively low.
1t would, of course, be desirable to
scatter them over the ground rather