2
THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER.
Thursday, April 8, 1909
$500 More a Year Famraimig i How to Make It
XIV By Making Hay a Money as Well as a
m
HERE are certain small sections, more or
less widely separated, in our territory
which have hay to sell, but as a whole, we
are large buyers. It is true, that the number of
farmers who buy hay is rapidly decreasing, but
the larger part of ttie hay consumed in our cities
and. towns is still shipped in from other and dis
tant States.
Why do our farmers not supply the local de
mand? There can only .be two reasons. 1 We must
either have demonstrated that we cannot produce
it profitably at the prices which other sections pro
dude it for, plus the heavy freight charges; or we
must have other crops which we grow at a suffici
ently larger profit to make the production of hay
undesirable.
Let us examine these two propositions more
carefully. Are we able to produce hay as cheaply
as the great hay-producing States? If we are,
then any farmer may have for his profits for pro
ducing sufficient to supply the local demand, the
profits now made by the Northern producers plus
the freight rates. This should net him a hand
some profit.
What is the chief factor in determining differ
ences in the cost of producing hay in the North
and the South? We can procure the same ma
chinery, use the same methods and employ as
cheap labor; therefore, it seems the chief factor
which of- necessity affects the cost of production
Is the yield per acre.
During the ten years, 1898 to 1907, the average
yield of hay in the States of Iowa, Illinoisand
Indiana was 1.40 tons per acre; while during the
same ten years the average yield in North Caro
lina,, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia was
1.52 tons per acre. We produced considerably
more hay per acre on land the selling price of
which was less than half as much, yet they found
It profitable to produce 11,773,000 tons in 1907,
while we produced only 448,000 tons. Not only
do we produce more per acre, but we get more
for it per ton, owing to the fact that we have a
market for more than we produce, right at home.
Some Startling Statistics.
HE YEAR-BOOK of the U. S. Department
Of Agriculture for 1907 gives the average
value of the hay crop for the last ten years
in the States of North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Georgia as $19.98 per acre. How; does this
compare with the other crops which we grow in
preference to hay? The only figures which we
have found for all crops, including hay, are given
for 1899 in the last Census Report as $10.97.
That is, the 'average yalue per acre of all our
crops Is $9.01 per acre less than the value of our
hay crop grown on each acre. This seems almost
incredible, but facts are stubborn things, and in
this case the experience of those farmers ' who
have tried hay as a money crop supports the Cen
sus figures.
generally bring on the market. The legume hays
red clover, alfalfa, lespedeza, cowpea, etc.,
have both higher feed and manure values, but
usually a lower market value than the grass hays.
This seeming paradox is due to the fact that the
grass hays, while having less feeding value, are
more suitable for feeding driving horses or those
doing fast work, and these are the kinds of ani
mals for which hay is chiefly bought. The legume
hays are too loosening in their effect on the bow
els, and probably should not constitute more than
one-half the hay ration of any horse.
In those sections of our territory where hay
farming has been practiced by a sufficiently large
number to more than supply local demands and
necessitate the shipping of" the product, it is still
a fact that the hay farmers are the most prosper
ous in those sections. If this be the case, when
the local demand is supplied and the price neces-
Lsarily reduced from 2 5 to 50 per cent, it seems
reasonable to conclude that those sections' where
a. strong local demand In excess of the; supply
forces the price of hay up to $15 to $20 a ton,
which is the condition in most of our territory,
Feed Crop.
SOME FIGURES FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT.
fit- 1 d u .'
5 . a . o
15 CO rj
33 S 2 8 :
Kg u a 2 0 o
o A 3 a S
States. "5 3 "SV T T 2 ft
North Carolina 190 1.57 $19 71 $11.04 .9 $8-67
South Carolina 92 1.42 17.46 11.99 . 5 5.47
Georgia - 166 1.57 22.76 9.88 - 6 12-88
Average. 1.52 $19-98 $10.97 J .66 $9-01
Iowa.... ... 4,900 1-53 $9-21 $8-67 6-2 $.54
Illinois 3,730 1.33 11-87 10-17 5-3 1-70
Indiana 3,143 1.35 12-03 10-28 i 4.2 1-75
Average 1-40 $11.04 $9.71 5.23 $1-33
Will It Pay to Feed Marketable Hays?
T PRESENT, there is no denying the fact
that any marketable hay will bring more
money when sold on the open market than
when fed to almost any sort of live stock. That
is, with good grass hays, the feeding value plus
the manure value, is not equal to what they will
This Week's Guide Post to "$500
More a Year,"
THE GREATER part of the hay used
in our cities and towns is shipped
in from the North, yet the three
States of North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Georgia average more hay per aero
than the three States of Iowa, Illinois, and
Indiana, which produce over twenty-five
times as much.
By growing, two crops of hay per year,
as we can do, any land in fair condition
should be made to produce three tons a
year, and these hay crops will yield as large
a profit as cotton making a bale to the
acre.
A ton of peavine hay has a fertilizing
value of $10. It also has a feeding value
of at least $10 per ton compared with
wheat bran at its ordinary price in the
South it is worth nearer $20 and three
fourths of the manurial value can be re
turned to the soil after it is fed. This
means that, at a low estimate, a ton of
well-cured peavine hay is worth $17.50 to
the farmer who has stock to feed.
may engage in hay growing as a money crop with
every reasonable assurance of profitable returns.
On all soils in Progressive Farmer territory,
where alfalfa does well, there is no longer any
doubt but the production of alfalfa hay is the
most profitable phase of farming. Four to five
tons of hay to the acre, with a ready sale at from
$12 to $15 a ton is plainly a most profitable busi
ness. Again, those who have rich lands set in John
son grass or Bermuda, while getting a smaller
yield of from two to three tons, still have a crop
that will net ten to twenty dollars an acre. The
objection to these hay crops is, of course, their na
ture as weeds and the 'difficulty of eradicating
them.
Hay as a Money Crop.
N MAKING hay a money crop it is not
necessary or aesirable, as a general rule,
to make it the only money crop. The hay
to supply, the needs of the South should be grown
in a rotation with our regular crops. A rotation
of cotton, corn and hay crops would permit of at
least one-third of the lands being devoted to the
production of two salable hay crops each year.
Where alfalfa, lespedeza, timothy, vetch,
Johnson grass, Bermuda or any other hay plant,
is already a proved success, there is no need for a
change, but over the greater part of our territory
there are no regular meadow lands permanently
set in hay-producing crops. In these sections tho
hay is 'usually harvested from a special seeding
for each crop, and this system fits well into a
"short, three-year rotation with cotton and corn.
In suchjja system, for one of the two hay crops to
be grown during anyone year, some winter-growing
crop must be used. Of these, we have crim
son clover, vet,ch, oats, wheat, and rye as probably
the most satisfactory. ' ? .
Although not an ideal hay plant, crimson clover
has strong claims for consideration as a winter
growing early spring hay crop, because of its
rapid and heavy spring growth and Its value as a
soil-improver.; Its chief disadvantage is that a
stand is! too uncertain because of dry weather dur
ing late! August and September when it should
be sowijj. If sown later, it does not withstand
the winter freezes so well and does not give a?
good results :j generally. If the crimson clover
sown ir August or September fails to make a
stand by November 1st, the land may be sown
to oats, ijwheat, or rye.
Even j! where crimson clover does well, many
advocate the sowing of oats, or wheat, or rye with
it whenjja hay crop is desired. About one-half
or one-third - the usual quantity of . the grain is
sown in;suchja case. By this means the yield of
hay is increased, it cures more easily and the
quality js better. If desired, hairy vetch may be
substituted for. the crimson clover in this combi
nation, j That is, oats and vetch, or wheat and
vetch, make splendid hay, and the yield is large
As soon as these early crops of hay are har
vested the land should be well broken, thoroughly
harrowed and sown to cowpeas or millet, prefer
ably the) former.
- The hays - made from these crops will sell
readily for from $15 to $20 a ton in any of our
towns or cities where timothy or other Northern
hay Is now shipped In and sold. The yield will
easily be from three to four tons to the acre from
the two! crops on fairly good land. The cost of
seeding and j harvesting the hay will not exceed
the coat! of making a orop of nnttnn. and therefore
these hay crops will yield as good a profit as cot
ton producing a bale to the acre.
What a Ton of Peavine Hay Is Worth.
VEN if the local demand for hay is more
than supplied, and the price falls to $10
per ton, as it probably will in such a case,
the growing of these legume hays will still prove
profitable if they are fed to good live stock and
the stable manure applied to the land.
A ton of .peavine hay has a fertilizer value' of
about $10. i One-fourth that amount, or $2.50
worth of fertilizer materials, is left in the stubble
and roots. This gives a total fertilizer value of
$12.50 to the crop of peas producing one ton of
hay per acre, and for that purpose alone it is
worth (hat much. But this ton of peavine hay
may be fed; and with reasonable care, three
fourthsjof its fertilizer value, or $7.50, saved in
the staple manure.
Its feeding value is at least 80 per cent that of
wheat (bran. .That is, five pounds of peavine hay
are worth about four pounds of wheat bran.
Wheat bran is easily worth $12.50 a ton for feed
ing, and cannot be bought In our territory for
much l0ss than double that amount; which, on
the basis stated, makes the peavine hay worth
$10 a Jon for feeding. This means a total feed
ing and manurial value for a ton. of peavine hay
of $7.50 plus $10, or $17.50.
Whife our. lands need stable manure so badly,
and we spend millions for commercial fertilizers,
who will say that peavine, crimson clover or vetch
hay is not a good money crop at $17.50 a ton?
According to the last census each farmer In the
NORTH Atlantic States earned $984 a year, and each
farmer In the SOUTH Atlantic States onlyf484 or ex
actly! $500 a year less for the average farmer In The
Progressive ; Farmer's territory than for his brother
farmer just north of him. The object of these articles
Is to set forth the plans by which we may bring up our
Southern farming to Northern profits, the next four
articles in this series being as follows :
April 15. By Raising Your Own Horses and Mules and
If a Few to Sell. , .
April 22. By Keeping More Stock to Graze Idle Lands
i and Consume Waste Products.
April 29. By Learning the Difference Between Scrub
f and Good Stock.
Majr 6. By Learning How to Make a Balanced Ration.