254 ACiRlCULTURK OF MAINE. 



as the season will permit, so as to have plenty of time to reach 

 maturity. 



llie corn should be harvested when in the glazing stage and 

 put into the silo without much delay, although some farmers 

 believe that a better quality of silage is produced if the silo is 

 filled slowly. This silage may be fed throughout the winter 

 season and the following summer while the pasturage is poor. 

 This is a better way than the growing of soiling crops, for most 

 dairymen, since it requires less time to feed during the summer 

 season \vtien time is expensive. 



The following spring this ground should be replowed and a 

 mellow seed bed prepared. If a grain drill with a grass seed 

 attachment is at hand the seeding can be done at one operation. 

 The oats should be sowed at the rate of about two and one-half 

 bushels to the acre, with a mixture of clover and grass seed, 

 eight to ten pounds of timothy and six pounds of red clover to 

 the acre. 



The oats may be cut before the grain matures, while the 

 leaves are green and the straw soft, in which case they make 

 excellent hay, ranking higher in protein and fat than timothy 

 hay, or they may be allowed to mature and then be cured and 

 threshed. Oat straw is higher in feeding value and is more 

 readily eaten by stock than the straw of any other grain. Oats 

 compare favorably with w^heat in feeding value, although they 

 contain a larger proportion of crude fiber. In protein, they 

 are a little lower than wheat but are higher than barley or com, 

 containing nine and two-tenths pounds to one hundred pounds 

 of dry matter. They are rather low in carbohydrates, con- 

 taining forty-seven pounds to one hundred, compared with 

 sixty-five to sixty-nine in other grains ; but they contain as 

 much fat as corn, four and two-tenths pounds, and twice as 

 much as found in wheat and barley. The green oats will make 

 a good substitute for pasturage or silage in the summer. 



Red clover is always an acceptable feed in the dairy barn, 

 whether fed green in the summer, cut into the silo or cured 

 for hay. Red clover is rich in protein, and protein can be sup- 

 plied cheaper in this form than in bran, oil meal, or other 

 expensive purchased feeds. So we see that clover furnishes a 

 large supply of nutrition, especially protein, which is needed 

 in abundance for the production of milk, and which is at the 



