The Dawn of a Xew Constructive Era ^ 101 



left in the field they are good for feed; but an 'afverag;^' yield 'o'f 

 beans and vines would be from two to four tons per acre ; if 

 they are good and dry like hay that would be a good estimate. 

 The yield of beans in the pods varies all the way from three- 

 quarters of a ton to something over two tons. In Mississippi I 

 have known something over two tons of seed per acre to be 

 grown. 



The principal use of the velvet bean, in addition to this 

 humus making, is for winter grazing. Most legumes, such as 

 cow peas, soy beans, etc., the leaves break off very quickly, and 

 after dropping they are decayed and the whole plant is worth- p ^ f -.^f. 

 less in a few days after the first touch of frost. The velvet bean f^j. jj^^ 

 is very tough, though ; and tha beans, leaves and vines resist 

 decay for many weeks or even months. Neither do the beans 

 decay when left on the ground during the winter. In fact, in 

 central and southern Florida many varieties retain their vitality 

 so completely that when a field has once been seeded volunteer 

 crops will follow for many years, and even in southern Missis- 

 sippi this sometimes occurs. The vines grow much larger and 

 seed much more freely when they are supported from the ground 

 by means of poles, and a grain of corn soon develops into an 

 efficient and inexpensive pole. Not much corn may be secured 

 from such a planting on new ground, but the presence of the 

 stalks will add largely to the yield of both vines and beans. 

 When planted on old fields they are usually planted with corn, ^^^y °^ 



nearly all of which can be gathered before the bean vines are . , 



•' . . . tancously 



large enough to cause serious inconvenience, and the few ears ly/f/, Corn 



which will be missed will be found and eaten when the field is 

 grazed. 



They are far superior to any other legume which we could 

 have for that purpose. The quality of the feed is excellent. I 

 have seen steers sell in February ready for the butcher. They had 

 no other feed except this from December until sent to the butcher 

 in February. The most economical way to handle the crop is to 

 give the cattle the first grazing; let them go over the fields and 

 clean them, and after they have cleaned off the best of it the 

 hogs can be turned in and they will get about as much as the 

 cattle got. If the crop is reserved for hog pasture it will give 

 more pork than we can get from most any other crop. I know 

 where four to six hundred pounds of pork have been made per 

 acre from this one crop. I have known of some instances where 



