n r. K A N T N r. s in b e k c u t. 'i' u r e 



September, 1A21 



rcfili/.c wliiit t-;ui Ik' done in this ticcp lich 

 Blaciv Belt tlioy will go <lowii unci help to 

 ilevelop it. When they do start to growing 

 legumes this land will literally tlftw with 



A pai(i:il view of the rrowd listening to the speeches 

 ;it the Hulifun Field Day meeting. 



milk and Iioiiey. Sweet clover, oi-, in a 

 broa<l sense, the legumes in general, will 

 make it possible to produce milk and but- 

 ter as was never done before in the South- 

 land. As the Black Belt is the natural habi- 

 tat of the new clover, there isa possibility 

 and even a i)robability that this whole area 



may become (Hie of the greatest Ix-e jiara- 

 dises in the world- 



What do I mean by the Black Beit? It 

 is a strip of territory (see the map) approxi- 

 mately 25 miles wide that runs, across the 

 middle of Alabama, gradually extending 

 northwest until it reaches the northeast part 

 of Mississippi. The soil is deep, rich, and 

 black, containing a large amount of lime. 

 This black strip or belt has furnished an 

 enormous growth of the biennial sweet clo- 

 ver; and it is probable that the annual 

 sweet clover has been growing there for 

 years. While perhaps one or two in the 

 region realized that they had something that 

 would mature in a year it took a man like 

 Prof. H- Ct. Hughes of Ames, Iowa, to real- 

 ize fully its immense economic importance 

 to the country. 



Among the experimental test-beds at the 

 Ames College, Prof. Hughes discovered one 

 melilotus that was head and shoulders 

 above its neighbors. He immediately be- 

 came interested; and after some inquiry he 



MISSISSIPPI 



ALABAMA 



CCORCIA 



Reprint from Survey of U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



THE LIME LAND BELT OP ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI — THE GREAT LIME BELT 



OP THE SOU'TH. 

 Tlie Black Belt is a .stretch of land about 'J5 miles wide. It runs transverselv across the State of Alabama and 

 up into t.he northeast of Mississippi. It contains apj>roximately three-fourths of a million acres of rich black 

 soil, coiUainm:;- a lavu-e amount of lime. It is, therefore, well adapted for the growine: of legumes of all 

 sorts, especially sweet clover and alfalfa. The Black Belt neai' Se'in.i is the limne of tlie new annual sweet 



clover, or Hubam, as it is called. 



