991 
‘Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Dairy Business at the South 
(»IL AND CROPS.—On page 983 reference is made 
to tlie dairy situation here in the South. The 
paragraph from the “Wiregrass Farmer'’ does not 
apply to that section lying south of the black belt. 
This belt extends from Eastern Mississippi clear 
across Alabama into West Central Georgia. In this 
belt clover. Alfalfa, Sweet clover—in fact, all the 
legumes, thrive wonderfully. An abundance of 
feeds may be grown here undreamed of in the North, 
but south of this conditions are vastly different. 
The land is lighter and more sandy and will not 
grow Red clover, Alfalfa and similar crops without 
an enormous outlay for lime and fertilizer first to 
add humus to the soil. This light soil will not retain 
moisture like the heavier soils containing decayed 
vegetable matter. Twenty bushels per acre is con¬ 
sidered a good corn crop. This sandy land is under¬ 
laid with a red or yellow clay subsoil, and responds 
readily to applications of fertilizer and to green 
crops when plowed under. 
PREPARATION FOR PASTURE.—There are 
many half truths told about conditions here in the 
South. It is hard to overstate the possibilities of 
the dairy business here, but it would be better if 
above mentioned feeds to eat, our cows were not 
given their usual grain ration. Some rapidly fell 
off in milk, while others gained fully 25 per cent. 
A little observation showed the cause to be due to 
Ihe kind of feed the individual cows preferred. In 
the “wiregrass” section the year around feeding of 
silage is undoubtedly the best for the dairy farmer. 
If timely rains come year around pasture may be 
had, but it too often happens that just at the time 
one wants to plant one of the crops in his pasture 
rotation il is so dry that no seed will germinate, and 
this will later leave him without any pasture. With 
silage to tide over such times one can have an 
abundance of feed the year around and the cows can 
cut and ensile most of their own feed. 
EMPTY SILOS.—Much of the plowing is done 
with one mule and a 0 or 7-inch plow. Until the 
subsoil is broken up deeper and more humus put 
into this land it will not retain sufficient moisture 
to grow even as large crops as its meager supply of 
fertility should. Until the moisture problem is 
solved sorghum will probably bo the favorite silage 
crop. Even sorghum silage is not all that could he 
desired, according to the views of the superintendent 
of a large farm in one of our Southern counties. 1 
a dairy, the city health officer is a graduate veterin¬ 
ary surgeon. All our milk is cooled immediately and 
bottled at once, and delivered once a day. At first, 
it was difficult to convince anyone that milk deliv¬ 
ered only once a day would be fit for use. -After a 
few months, and no one had had any reason to com¬ 
plain, the city health officer abruptly demanded that 
we tell him what we were putting into the milk. A 
little surprised at the question, we inquired why he 
bad asked. lie replied that anyone of intelligence 
would know that milk would not keep so long with¬ 
out some preservative having been put into it. Tf 
men with the training this man has had know so 
little about handling milk, what is to bo expected of 
those who have done little but grow cotton all their 
lives? There is little doubt but. what the South can 
produce milk and butter cheaper than the North, but 
in many sections, at least, the dairy industry will not 
develop till the farmers are taught how. 
Georgia. j. n. pbicicett. 
Free Milk a Good Investment 
M ILK as a tonic for employees convalescing at 
the home office has been furnished free by a 
great insurance company for the past four months. 
Italian Women Working in Marled Q-arden near Boston. Fig. J/29 
Pigs Brought Up on Self-feeder. Fig. JfiQ 
the exact conditions were given. This 
would enable many to avoid costly 
mistakes. One is led to believe that it 
is a matter of only a few months in 
establishing a permanent pasture that 
will afford year around pasture in vasl 
quantities. Virgin soil that will not 
produce more than 20 bushels of corn 
per acre cannot be expected to provide 
much pasture without a lot of expen¬ 
sive preparation. It can be done, and 
is being done, but it is not one-tenth 
as simple a matter as it is sometimes 
represented to be. There are millions 
of acres of cut-over lands in the North 
just as good as the much-lauded lands 
of the South, which are lying idle be¬ 
cause they are considered worthless. 
Owing to the long growing season of 
the South these poor sandy lands may 
be quickly built up. This cannot be 
so readily accomplished with the 
Northern cut-over lands. I will cite 
just one instance to show what mag 
be done here in the South IT refer to 
the coastal region) to build up this 
land. Of course there are many ways 
of doing this same thing. One may 
plant a crop of early corn. This may 
be harvested early in July, and the cow 
peas that w r ere sown in drills in the 
middle of the rows after the last cul¬ 
tivation may be picked the last of 
September and the vines cut up with 
the disk, having first sown either rye 
or Winter oats, or they may be pas¬ 
tured off and the rye or oats disked 
in later. These will furnish Winter 
pasture and may be turned under in 
time for the next Spring’s planting, 
and the same system repeated. 
CORN AND VELVET BEANS. — 
These make such a dense growth that 
one can hardly make his way through 
them. But to say one can grow a full 
crop of corn among such a tangle of vines is not 
founded upon fact. At times these vines make such 
a rapid growth that the corn is completely wrapped 
up and broken down, and it would be almost, impos¬ 
sible to find a full-sized ear of corn in a whole 
field. But the next season, after all this growth is 
cut up and plowed under, a wonderful improvement 
in the soil will be evident. One is told what a vast 
amount of Fall grazing this veritable jungle will 
afford. As a rule, by the time the cattle are turned 
in, all the velvet bean leaves have fallen and are 
worthless as feed. Then the corn leaves that have 
been wrapped with vines and been kept from the 
sun for weeks are not relished if anything better 
can be found. This is as a Northern man sees it. 
It is a fact that when a herd of cattle is turned into 
a field of coiai and beans they ivill strip off the corn 
leaves, and when all else is gone begin to strip off 
the clusters of velvet beans and eat the Mexican 
clever, which by this time is too ripe to be very 
palatable. Cattle differ as to what they like, of 
course. Some at once begin to gather the clusters 
of beans, while others will not touch them as long 
as they can find anything else to eat. Some will 
gorge themselves upon the half-dead Mexican clover. 
This matter of taste is most apparent in the case 
of a herd of dairy cows. With an abundance of the 
am relating this true incident primarily to show 
the lack of knowledge necessary to make the dairy 
business a success. Many are trying to get away 
from the old one-crop system, but because of a lack 
of knowledge and the difficulty of getting suitable 
tenants or competent foremen, are making a sorry 
mess of it. While looking for dairy cows the writer 
visited quite a pretentious-looking place owned by 
a wealthy banker. There was a fine herd of grade 
Holstein cattle grazing on rye. Two fine concrete 
silos stood empty. When asked if the cattle were for 
sale, the foreman assured us that they were. Asked 
if they were registered, he rather indignantly told 
us they were not, that they were “genuine Wisconsin, 
dairy Holstein*!" When questioned if they found 
the silo a valuable adjunct to their dairy business 
we were assured that the silo was a failure in the 
South. Wishing to find out why, we questioned him 
further and learned that “one cannot afford to feed 
silage here in the South because it contains so much 
acid, which eats up the butterfat.’’ This case is 
extreme—extreme in the profoundness (?) of it. 
CARE OF MILK.—In most of the towns with which 
the writer is acquainted milk is delivered twice a 
day so that customers may have sweet milk at all 
times. The milk is delivered ‘Tight from the cow.” 
In the town where the writer and his son operate 
The results to date are the subject of a 
most enthusiastic report by the person¬ 
nel department, and the practice is to 
continue indefinitely. Incidentally the 
home consumption of milk by employees 
has been greatly stimulated. 
The company under consideration 
employs about 4,000 people at its home 
office, approximately two-thirds of 
whom are young women. Elaborate 
precautions are taken to safeguard the 
health of this highly trained force, par¬ 
ticularly with reference to contagious 
maladies. To this end every depart¬ 
ment supervisor is required to report 
every absence, and, so far as known, 
the reason for same. Every employee 
returning from sick leave is in turn 
required to visit the personnel depart¬ 
ment for physical examination before 
lie or she can resume work. This pro¬ 
cedure directs the attention of the 
nurses and doctors in charge to sun¬ 
dry cases where the employee has been 
entirely freed from disease, but is still 
below normal as regards vigor and vi¬ 
tality. The physical examination is 
then made a matter of record, and the 
employee is directed to report for the 
milk ration. At precisely the middle 
of both morning and afternoon sessions 
the milk is served by the nurses accord¬ 
ing to schedule in the rest rooms. Each 
person receives an eight-ounce glass 
of the highest grade clinical milk, pro¬ 
duced on a nearby farm from a herd of 
tuberculin-tested Guernseys. From 
five to 10 minutes are required to serve 
and consume about 20 quarts, which is 
the maximum per day to date. Record 
cards are maintained for each individ¬ 
ual taking the milk ration, and at reg¬ 
ular intervals there are physical re-ex¬ 
aminations to observe the progress 
made. One of the young women made 
an actual gain of 8 lbs. in two weeks’ time. Almost 
without exception the convalescing employees gain 
in flesh, develop good color and recover their wonted 
“pep” in much less time than formerly. Occasionally 
Ihe supervisors also refer to the personnel depart¬ 
ment employees who appear run down physically, 
but by no means sick. These also are put on the 
milk ration, with correspondingly good results. 
Every employee under observation is also advised 
and encouraged to drink milk with all regular meals. 
Of course it is hardly possible to measure the re¬ 
turns from such welfare work in dollars and cents, 
but those in charge of the personnel department be¬ 
lieve that the earlier termination of sick leaves, 
with the increased ’efficiency thereafter, more than 
compensates for the cost of serving the milk. Such 
practice on the part of a great corporation, that 
systematically secures the best technical advice 
along every line of its activity, and automatically ex¬ 
tends the many millions of life insurance written to 
include its employees, appears to the writer as about 
the biggest boost for milk and its vitamiues that he 
has ever encountered. Christopher m. callup. 
Connecticut. 
We begin to fertilize now for next year’s fruit crop. 
There must first be a supply of healthy fruit buds, and 
these are to be made in late Summer and Fall. 
