102 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



the yield of pork per acre has been more than double that 

 amount, but we have definite records of over six hundred pounds 

 of pork per acre ; and after the hogs are taken off the field there 

 are the remains of the vines and the droppings of the hogs left 

 on the ground to add to the fertility of the soil. 



As a restorative crop for exhausted soils, velvet beans are 

 even more valuable than cov^r peas, as they grow larger and so 

 produce more humus and add more nitrogen to the soil. Pro- 

 fessor Ross, of the Alabama Station, shows the fertilizing value 

 of a crop of two tons of vines and beans to have a value of about 

 $55.00 per acre, the valuation being based on the present prices 

 of commercial fertilizers; and this valuation was fully justified 

 in the increase in yield of the crops which followed. Bulletin 

 120, of the Alabama Station, says that following a crop of the 



„ . . beans on a sandy soil the yield of cotton was increased 18 per 



Experiments 



Show Value cent, corn 32 per cent, fall-sown oats 334 per cent, and of wheat 



of Velvet 280 per cent. This great increase was, doubtless, due partly to 



Beans for Soil the fertilizing elements contained in the bean crop, and parti}' 

 Enricliment ^q ^jjg betterment of the condition of the soil by the addition of 

 the humus. Station analyses show that an ordinary crop of the 

 beans will add as much plant food to the soil as is contained in 

 1,400 pounds of cottonseed meal, and that, in addition to its 

 humus-making and other beneficial effects. Every Experiment 

 Station official with whom I have corresponded has been em- 

 phatic in stating that the fertilizing value alone was worth far 

 more than the entire cost of growing the crop, thus leaving its 

 pasture and seed value as clear profit. 



This is the experience which has been given to me by many 

 Station authorities with whom I have talked. Within the last 

 twelve years, since the propaganda in favor of their cultivation 

 has been going on, the increase in cultivation has been immense. 

 The increase in Louisiana is very great ; I don't know the exact 

 acreage: 



The plantings in Mississippi will be over a million acres this 

 year. 



The papers sometimes call me a velvet bean crank. Per- 

 haps I am; but I hardly know the difference between a crank 

 and a man who pushes a good thing when he sees it. I am push- 

 ing velvet beans. It is twenty years since I planted the first crop 

 and I have been for it ever since, and I believe it is the best crop 



