St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1921-03-12
Louisiana Lands Especially
Adapted to the Crops
Needed for This.
y
BEST RESULTS
DRAINED LANDS
Lands Value Increases AS
Soil Productivity
Increases.
(By A. E. Briggs)

(By A. E. Briggs)
The only unanswerable argument
| have heard against drainage is that
It doesn't wholly relieve the farmer
of the labor and trouble Of ti;ling
his ground and putting in and culti-
waiting his crops. What drainage
does do is to tighten the labor OF
tillage, to accomplish more work
with the same effort, and to produce
larger crops without increasing labor
or other costs.
Drainage gives these advantages III
part by assoJting to increase the ler-
ii .ity of the land. One or these q s.
c0uragements 10 drainage is the as
sumption that our lands are SO poor
that they are not worth drainage lnl-
provement. The ..est answer to thai
doubt is the value Of the crops which
can be raised on these lands When
drained 1t IS hoped that the farm
er who knows how to farm gets
some benefit from these articles, but
they are intended much more tor
the farmer who should have assist
ance in planning his crops and IN
farming methods, or for the wlll-oe
farmer or farm landlord. Therefore
! propose in this and succeeding
artic es to treat on speclnc crops
and methods Of farming in relation
to drainage.
When we get drainage, how should
we handle our lands? A very large
part OF the answer is, Raise velvet
beans How to raise velvet Deans
and what profits may be expected
Z therefrom is instructively told in
Farmers Bulletins Nos. Ala, 72o,
1125, 1148 and 1149, of the United
States Department of Agriculture,
and in articles by experts connected
with Southern States experiment sta
Ions in Modern Farming from
which various sources | quote much
of the following:
Drainage Needed for Velvet Beans
"This crop will not succeed On
cold, wet soils and should never 'De
planted before the soil has had time
to become warm" says S. M. Tracy,
u. S, Agronomist I'VE have learn
ed from authorit !es quoted n prevl-
Gus articles that drainage warns UP
the soil and makes it earlier in sea-
SON. And by eliminating cold, wet
lands drainage would increase the
quantity of land available for plant
ing beans. On all lands it increases
the yield per acre, because IN the
southeast United States the excessive
rainfall requires artificial drainage
Of practically all lands.
Velvet Bean ON Cut-Over Lands
''Velvet beans are especial adapt
ed to the well drained portions OF the
Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain
areas. 1t is in this section that the
greatest acreage is to be found. IN
this region the velvet bean will make
profitable growth on newly cleared
land and also on soil that has been
under cultivation long time. IN
many sections it is used extensively
on cut-over pine land and on sandy
soils as a soil-improving crop, as /;
has been found that it will produce
more vegetable matter under sucn
conditions than any other annual le-
gume grown at the prejent time
S. w Greene, of the Coastal PLAIN
Experiment Station, calls it the
king OF legumes.'
Value of Bean as Fertilizer
"In many sections velvet beans
have proved to be the most profitable
crop to plant for one or two years O.
! newly cleared land. In addition e
producing sufficient grazing or tee1
during this time to more than pay
the cost OF planting and harvesting
the fertility of the land will be sc
improved that other crops may O.
grown more successfully. The ylelc
of seed from such ground is usually
heavier than from fields which nave
been long in cultivation. Many eA
periments have been conducted te
determine the value of velvet beans
as soil-.mproving crop, but the
Florida variety only has been usee
in these experiments. 1t is prop
able that better results were OBTAIN
ed with this species than would nave
been obtained with the early matur
ing varieties, which do not MAKE
such "a vigorous growth. 1t wa:
found at the Alabama, Louisiana ane
Florida agricultural experiment sta
tions that the green weight Of the
vines in an acre of velvet beans wa:
19,o49, 22,919 and 21,132 pound!
respectively. Assuming that the
weighings were made as soon as the
plants were cut and the moisture
content was 80 per cent, these plant:
produced, respectively, 3,427, 4,12s
and 3,SO4 pounds of dry matter PEI
acre. Moisture-free velvet bean ha,
contains approx mately 17.6 per cen
of crude protein, and on this Das''
the plat harvested in Alabama con
tanned 96.4 pounds of nitrogen; tn
Louisiana plat 1161 pounds, and tn
Florida plat lo7 pounds, thus CIV
ing ar. average of 1868 pounds 0
nitrogen in the vines for an acre 0
Florida velvet beans. At the pres
ent price (1918) of nitrogen IN Tn
from Of nitrate of soda, the value Q !,
the nitrogen alone in an acre OF vel
2 d