If sown at the beginning of the summer rains the seed need not l)e 

 covered. It must not be buried too deeply else the young plants will 

 not be able to reach the surface. By sowing at the beginning of 

 summer two crops may be secured. If cut for hay at the time the 

 first flowers appear the roots will send up a second crop, which may 

 be saved for seed, and enough seed will scatter to insure a crop the 

 next season. The seed may also be scattered in the corn rows at 

 the time of the last cultivation or at the beginning of the rains in 

 June. Then, after the corn has been stripped or cut for fodder, the 

 beggar weed may be mown for hay or harvested for seed. The crop 

 should be cut for hay when it is about 3 or 4 feet high, or at the 

 beginning of the blooming period. If cut after full bloom many of 

 the lower leaves will have 

 fallen and much of the best 

 part of the crop will be lost. 



ITS VALUE AS A 

 HAY CROP. 



Beggar weed makes a 

 very fine quality of hay, 

 which is relished by all 

 classes of farm stock. 



According to analyses 

 made at the Florida Ex- 

 periment Station of the 

 upjier parts of plants not 

 yet in seed, 100 pounds of 

 hay contained 19.4 pounds 

 of crude protein. When 

 cut after the seed had rip- 

 ened the crude protein had 

 decreased to 15.75 pounds, 

 the fat and non-nitroge- 

 nous extracts from 45.4 

 pounds to 42.7 pounds, and 

 the crude fiber or indiges- 

 tible portion had increased 

 from 19.0 to 26.5 pounds. 

 An average of two analy- 

 ses of the entire plant, including the woody stems, the one made 

 from plants in green seed, the other from those not yet seeding, 

 indicated 11.85 pounds of crude protein in 100 pounds of hay. This 

 may be taken as representing more nearly the crude protein value of 

 average beggar- weed hay than the larger (juantity shown to be pres- 

 ent in the upper, more leafy, and more tender portion of the plant. 



Fig. 2,— Florida beggar weed, grown at the Mississippi 

 Agricultural Experiment Station— plants 7 to 8 feet high. 



