484 APPENDIX. 



Our farmers are turning their attention each year more and more to 

 grazing and meadows, and find that hay is the most remunerative crop 

 that can be grown by them for the labor and expense required to pro- 

 duce it. The grazing after the hay is removed from the meadows com- 

 pensates the owner for the expense in harvesting his crop. 



In addition to these grasses, red clover is grown more or less by almost 

 every farmer in the country, the most of which is kept for grazing; but 

 many of our farmers save it for hay, which is easily cured and the 

 yield per acre is very large. Those who grow clover for hay, as a rule 

 prefer it for cattle, sheep, horses and mules, to any other. White 

 clover is a spontaneous growth in this county, and shows itself in fields 

 not cultivated and in pasture land. It is good grazing for cattle and 

 sheep at any time, and for horses and mules until the seed ripens. 



Long before the war we found that grasses and clover paid a better 

 per cent than cotton, and its cultivation was almost entirely abandoned. 

 The result was a large increase was seen in the number of cattle, sheep, 

 horses, mules and hogs on our farms, and instead of our lands being ex- 

 hausted by the cultivation off cotton, their productiveness has been pre- 

 served, and to a large extent it has been increased; ^and will continue to 

 do so as long as our present system of rotation in crops is preserved. 



This is one of the largest hog raising counties in the State, and this is 

 attributable to the abundance of red clover grown, for from the 10th of 

 April until late in the fall it affords excellent pasture for hogs, and 

 many sell their hogs from these pastures for early fall shipping, after 

 being fed but short time with corn. Our most successful hograisera rely' 

 upon their clover for grazing their hogs, and corn, which they grow in 

 great abundance, to fatten them. It is a matter of constant surprise to 

 those who do not understand the capacity of this county to produce 

 grasses, clover and corn when they see, as we have done constantly 

 through the past year, carload after carload of hogs driven to our town 

 for shipment, where our packers, Barrett & Landis, could have found 

 the fourteen or fifteen thousand hogs~~which they have packed during 

 the past season, averaging over 260 lbs., and at the same time that the 

 county should be more than supplied with pork for this year's consump- 

 tion. These facts are to be attributed to the great care our farmers give 

 to their clover fields, and the corn producing capacity ' of our lands, 

 and we find that clover grows more luxuriantly as we increase the fer- 

 tility of our soil by the growth of clover and other grasses. Saplin 

 clover does well here, and we have seen it grow over 6 feet long, but the 

 red clover is preferred for all purposes except to turn under as green 

 sod. 



Two gentlemen this winter have informed me that they have each a 

 field of clover upon which there is an excellent stand and growing 



