ma
Experiment Station at Auburn has found the pods equal to oats, pound for
pound, in a dairy ration. A team of mules fed for 30 days on pods showed
satisfactory results. Cows and hogs showed equal success. At 5 years of
age, Millwood averages 58 pounds and Calhoun 26 pounds per year. At
eight years, Millwood bore 200 pounds, and Calhoun 60. The pods fall
from October 15th to December 30th. Lespedeza sericea planted between
the trees yields 2-1/2 tons per acre annually. This gives us courage to
continue emphasizing their great value for pasture and rough land
planting. The trees we planted in our swampy, worn-out meadow are doing
fine.

_Mulberries_--This great chicken, bird and hog feed will some day fill a
definite place in the sun of the American farmer, just as it does in
Asia. The drawbacks are lack of hardiness and short bearing season in
the north. The Hicks variety bears for six to eight weeks but is not
hardy north of the Mason-Dixon line. This year we have grafted eight
varieties of which seven are new. One from southern Indiana, an American
seedling selected by a mulberry enthusiast, bears for six to eight
weeks. Will it be hardy farther north? We shall know soon. Six are from
select seedlings of L. K. Hostetter, of Lancaster, Pa., the mulberry
king of America. The other is a fine white, a chance seedling from 75
miles north of Pittsburgh. It has not borne yet but was far hardier than
Downing last winter. I have a few of these to sell this fall. Mulberries
need sweet soil to prevent winter killing. On worn out soils we have
discovered that they do well until established, by applying a few
handfuls of lime around the tree at planting time. Not only are they
excellent for the above mentioned uses but the right varieties are
better than raisins when dried.

In 1945 we set a leaky corner of sandy meadow to honey locusts. I saw
them growing in semi-swamp land in Alabama, but here all but two of the
18 trees died. When replanted in 1946 also they died. I found the two
that were living were carelessly planted too shallow, with the top roots
sticking out of the ground. We replanted more trees in the spring of
1947 with the top roots above the ground level, mounded soil over them
about 6 to 10 inches, then mulched. They are all growing fine.

_Starting a Tree Crop Farm. What Is It?_--It consists of a blended,
balanced program of cattle, hogs, poultry and sheep pasturing under
mulberries, honey locust, persimmons, o