Grasses and Leguminous Crops in 

 the South 



By S. M. Tracy 



Special Agent in Forage Crop Investigations, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Biloxi, Mississippi 



Every region has its own special assort- 

 ment of forage crops, and each crop needs 

 its own special location and management. 

 The South has a greater number of profit- 

 able forage crops than has any other sec- 

 tion of the country, though the red clover, 

 timothy, red-top, and other common for- 

 age crops of the North are almost un- 

 known. This difference in the kinds of 

 forage does not indicate that the South- 

 ern crops are in any way deficient in yield 

 or quality, but simply that crops change 

 with soils, climates, and conditions. In fact, the yields per acre 

 are greater in the South than in any part of the country. The 

 Year-book of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for 1909 gives 

 the 10-year average for the whole of the United States as 1.44 

 tons per acre, while the average for Texas, Louisiana, and the 

 states east of the Mississippi river was 1.54 tons per acre. Not 

 only is the yield greater in the South, but prices are much higher. 

 The 10-year average farm price during the same years for the 

 entire country was $11.62 per ton, while the price in the South- 

 ern states named was $17.33 per ton. In other words, the aver- 

 age cash yield per acre was $16.73 for the whole of the United 

 States, while for the Southern states it was $26.68 per acre, or 

 nearly 60 per cent greater than the general average. 



A Wide Range of Profitable Crops — To produce these 

 heavy yields and satisfactory profits, the South has a large num- 

 ber of crops available, Bermuda and Johnson grasses being among 

 those commonly used for permanent meadows, while alfalfa, 

 melilotus, Dallis grass, lespedeza, and others are of great value in 

 certain regions. It is easy to secure good, permanent pastures, 

 yet permanent meadows are less common and of less import- 

 ance than in the North. A large part of the hay made in the 

 South is from annual plants which are grown in the fields when 

 they are not occupied with growing cotton, corn, or other grains. 

 In all the country south of the Ohio river it is possible to have 



