A B C OF FLORIDA TRUCKING 127 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



FORAGE CROPS. 



Several years ago you would have found the Florida 

 farmer buying all of the feed for his stock and poultry, but 

 what do you find today? If he is an energetic farmer, you 

 will not only find him saving all the feed for his own stock, 

 but selling it to others. In this State there are so many 

 different kinds of forage crops that you can find some of 

 them growing at all seasons of the year. You can supply 

 your stock and poultry with green food both winter and 

 summer, and as you can see this is a big saving. If the 

 northern farmer can make money out of his chickens and 

 stock when he has but one short season to raise their food 

 in, what should the Florida farmer make when he can sup- 

 ply them with fresh grown green feed the entire year? 



FIELD CORN. 



Corn is one of the most important of the forage crops. 

 It is grown in all sections of the State. In the Hastings 

 section the farmers plant it after their potatoes, raising large 

 crops which they ship by the car load. It can be grown on 

 any kind of Florida soil with a small amount of fertilizer, 

 about 600 pounds to the acre, that will analyze as follows : 

 Ammonia, 4% ; available phosphoric acid, 5% ; potash, 6%. 

 Follow directions for growing sweet corn as found in Chap- 

 ter XXV, only giving field corn about three and a half 

 feet between the rows. If you wish to follow a crop of 

 Irish potatoes with corn, it should be planted immediately 

 after you give the potatoes their last working, and when 

 you are ready to dig the potatoes, the corn will be large 

 enough for the first working. The best variety for this 

 climate is Kennedy's Florida Weevil Proof. This is a 

 new variety which is very valuable to the Florida planters 



