61 
tJ. G. Hastings Co., Seedsmen, Atlanta, Georgia. 
Early Velvet Beans 
For twenty years or more Florida and the Gulf Coast section have known and 
grown the old Florida or Late Velvet Beau with its long time of maturity. They can 
do it and get full value out of the crop either for soil improvement or slock feed 
simply because they had the full length of season. 
The length of time necessary to mature the Florida or Late Velvet Bean barred 
its use for all pi'actical puri)oses over most of the Cotton Beit, where above all sec¬ 
tions its splendid improving qualities were needed. 
Our generality of soils in the Cotton Belt are poor—not in mineral elements but 
In the vegetable matter or humus that is necessary to enalde the growing crop plants 
to get mineral elements that are already there but are not availalile. 
Our continuous cropping with clean culture crops has either liurned up or lot wa§h 
away practically all the vegetable matter that was in them. With this condition our 
crops not only can not get the potash and phosphoric acid in the soil but neither can 
they get full benefit from the commercial fertilizers aiiplied each year. 
The value of average stable manure, stable lot trash, rotted leaves or straw is 
largely in the vegetable matter that it puts l)ack in the soil. 
We of the South must seriously begin a periO(i of laud liuilding. AVe have been 
“land-skinning” until the expression of "worn-out” land is mighty common. 
The South's Soil Salvation 
No man or woman ever needed salvation in the religious sense any more than the 
average cotton growing soils of the South need salvation in the physical or laud 
building sense. We say this in all reverence and without any disrespect to the 
Creator of all things. 
A piece of virgin land, deep and rich with vegetable matter and plant food, is just 
as much a part of God’s work as you are and should be treated as such instead of 
robbed and squandered as we and our ancestors have been doing. 
The washed out hill lands of the upper Cotton Belt and the sandy lands of the 
lower belt all need, and need badly, soil salvation. It is up to you and to us to 
bring this salvation to them in the shape of these crops turned under. Cowpeas are 
good, but Velvet Beans are far better because they m.ike far more growth. 
The middle and northern part of the Cotton Belt were largely denied the use of the 
Velvet Bean until the origination and distribution of the early and extra early va¬ 
rieties that will reach maturity or nearly so even in the most northern part of our 
section. Every year sees hundreds of thousands of new Velvet l!eau acres added to 
the South’s total acreage. 
With the spread of the planting. Velvet Bean Jleal mills have sprung up in Georgia, 
Alabama and Mississippi and Velvet Bean Meal is successfully competing in the mar- 
kets steadily as a competitor of Cottonseed Meal as a dairy and live stock feed. 
Every acre of Velvet Beans planted means first of all, soil improvement; second, 
a crop'of beans that has a cash value for market or of still greater value to be fed 
the stock at home. 
Plant Velvet Beans in Corn 
Every acre of upland or second bottom corn in the Cotton Belt ought to be planted 
In Velvet Beaus at rate of about one peck llo 1I)S.) per acre. This plan means more 
forage than cowpeas will make, plus six to ten bushels of beans, without decreas¬ 
ing the usual yield of corn. We do not advise planting in l)ottom land corn. The 
growth on bottom land would be so heavy as to break down the corn. 
We have cut out all but two early varieties from our list, these two being apparent¬ 
ly best adapted for general planting in the South, these being the Extra Early Velvet 
and the Osceola Velvet. Both have been grown on the Hastings Farm and proved 
more satisfactory than any others. 
South of a line drawn east and west through Macon, Georgia; Montgomery, Ala¬ 
bama, and Jackson, Mississippi, plant the beans between the stalks of corn (2 beans 
to each place) about one month after corn planting. North of that line plant at the 
same time with the corn. Our experiments at the Hastings Farm have clearly dem¬ 
onstrated to us that in the northern hall of the Cotton Belt the beans should be 
planted in the rows at corn planting time instead of later if best results are to be 
gotten from the crop. . ^ , 
i^tra Early Velvet Bean (No. 605) graph shows clusters of the 
Early Velvet grown in Middle Georgia where the seed matured perfectly in four 
months. It has the strong growing characteristics of the old variety, a crop of which 
turned under was estimated to do the land more good than a ton of average guano per 
acre. Extra Early Velvet is the one best variety for the middle and northern section of 
the Cotton Belt, gathering nitrogen from the air like cowpeas, making two or three 
times as much growth and pods and adding a supply of vegetable matter to your soil 
that will show for j’ears to come in your crop. Plant in rows -1 to 5 feet apart, drop¬ 
ping 2 seeds every 12 to 15 Inches. Cultivate once or twice and then let them alone. 
They will take care of themselves and everything else on the land. Packet, Ij) cents; 
pound, 25c; 2 lbs,, 45c; postpaid. 15 lbs,, not prepaid, $1.50; 60 lbs., about $5.00, 
Osceola Velvet Bean (No. 606) vet varieties and is rapidly supersed¬ 
ing older varieties. Its great value lies in its combination of extra earliness and its 
heavy crops of beans for feeding in place of grain. The vines are shorter with less 
foliage. Most desirable where less vine growth is wanted. Packet, 10c; lb., 25c; 2 
lbs., 45c; postpaid. Not prepaid: 15 lbs. (pk.), about $1.15; 60 lbs. (bu.), about $6.00. 
QUANTITY PRICES ON VELVET BEANS 
Write for special prices on quantity lots when ready to buy. 
subject to market changes. We will give you our best prices. 
Velvet Beans are 
EXTRA 
EARLY 
VELVET 
BEANS 
