Not much in the way of geneaology information here, but a glimpse into the issues that affected the livelihood of many of our families. Monya The Journal-Record - Bicentennial Edition Thursday, July 1, 1976 Section B, Page 1 FROM BROON(sic) SEDGE, BRIERS, AND GULLIES, BILL COTNEY RELATES ABOUT THE FARMER'S The Upper Coastal Plain Substation, usually referred to locally as the Experiment Station, is one of eight such branch stations in the Alabama Experiment Station System of the Alabama Polyechnic(sic) Institute -- one being located in each of the major soil areas of the state. This station was created by an act of the 1943 Alabama Legislature. Work was started on January 1, 1945. It contains 735 acres of land of which about 475 acres are in crops of all kinds. Some seventeen different soil types are found on the station, being one of the main reasons for the selection of this particular block of land for the station. The land was bought and donated to the Alabama Experiment Station of Fayette County. Funds for the operation of it come from an annual appropriation made by the Alabama Legislature to the Alabama Polytechnic Institute for this particular station, and from the sale of products produced and sold from it. At the time operation was started, some two-thirds of the open land was idle and producing only broom sedge, briers and brush. Some of it was badly gullied. As funds, facilities, and labor would permit, this has been reclaimed and planted to the crop or crops thought best for the particular area involved. Results of this have brought some surprises. Some of the land, once considered very poor, when brought into cultivation, reasonably well fertilized and with winter legumes included in the rotation, is now producing fairly high yields of cotton, corn, oats, and other crops. Hillside land, once producing sedge and brush, is now producing good services for hay and grazing. Bottom land have been cleared, fertilized and limes, planted to permanent pasture crops, and are now producing excellent grazing for cattle. Other areas have ben left in timber. All of this brings to our attention the fact that all of the land in the Upper Coastal Plain soil area, when planted to adapted crops, fertilized and limed as needed, and with reasonable management, will produce additional imcome(sic) to add to the agricultural wealth of the area. A few years ago, cotton brought in most of the cash income to farms in this area. In planning the work on this station, it was felt by those in charge, that cotton faced a decline in acreage. this happened to the extent that in 1953, with no acreage controls, only about fifteen percent of the open land in the Upper Coastal Plain soil area was planted to cotton. This year, with cotton acreage controls, it is even less. This simply means that additional income must be gotten from those acres not in cotton if we are to have a reasonably decent income. On most farms this means adding livestock and livestock products suited to the farm feed production program to convert this feed into ta salable product. With this in mind, most of the work on this station has been directed toward the development of feed production programs that would support the production of hogs, milk, eggs and beef. For instance, work on this station has established that about an acre of good alfalfa and an acre of crimson clover is sufficient to furnish grazing most of the year for a sow and her two litters of pigs per year grown out to market size. Other crops, such as white clover, oats, kudzu, etc., in their session will do about as good job. Earlier work on other stations had already established the fact that good green grazing would reduce the corn required to grow a market hog by nearly one-half. Also work on this station has shown that corn can be efficiently hogged off in the field. On the other hand, tests have shown that grain sorghum is not hogged off efficiently, but should be combined and fed to hogs. In the production of milk, it has been found that much hillside land planted to sericea can be used profitably for hay and grazing. At the same time it has been found that sericea is not too good as a grazing crop for milking cows during the summer and fall dry periods. During these periods it needs supplementing with sudan grass, kudzu alfalfa, or other grazing crops to help maintain milk production. However, beef cattle will maintain themselves on sericea during these dry periods better than dairy cattle. Work with poultry has established the fact that more than seventy percent of the feed that laying hens will eat can be home-grown in the form of oats and corn. Other work being done included the continuous testing of new and old varieties of cotton, corn, oats, wheat, grain, sorghum, alfalfa, pasture and other crops to find those varieties best suited to this area. Also fertilizer and lime tests are conducted to determine kinds and amounts of fertilizers best to use. Tests with winter grazing crops are under way to determine those crops or combinations of crops giving the earliest and most winter grazing. Three years work on cross-breeding hogs is just being concluded. Many other tests are under way to determine practices that will improve production and income of farms. What are some of the results? Some five thousand to seven thousand farmers visit this station each year to see and discuss work under way. These are brought there in organized groups by County Agents and other agricultural works and are from twelve to fifteen counties in this area. In addition, many farmers visit the station individually for some specific information needed. However, this station is only one member of a team in the agricultural workers, farmers, bankers, and interested businessmen. With this continued team effort, and with reasonable weather conditions, this area has a bright future for continued growth toward a balanced crops and livestock agricultural.