294 Bulletin 135. 



Millet hay is not in popular favor owing to the fatal results 

 which, in some cases, have followed its use. Just why these 

 unsatisfactory results sometimes follow does not seem to be clear. 

 In feeding it to horses caution should be observed and the millet 

 hay used in conjunction with some other coarse fodder. Much 

 of the value of millet hay seems to depend upon the time of cut- 

 ting, which should be done soon after blossoming. 



Sorghum, Teosinte, Sacaline, etc. 



These crops are mentioned in this bulletin only for the fact that 

 many inquiries are received asking about their merits for this 

 section. While sorghum seems to possess some value, yet for 

 forage, corn is so far superior, when all things are considered, that 

 where it can be raised sorghum is not a necessity in the rotation. 

 It seems to possess its chief value in the fact that it is able to 

 withstand drought and grow under conditions where corn would 

 be a failure. So far as our experiments with teosinte and sacaline 

 go we cannot recommend them for general use. Though they 

 may possess value for certain localities, yet in New York there are 

 so many crops which can be successfully grown for forage that the 

 farmers should be slow to adopt the new varieties except by way 

 of experiment until they have been tested and proven of value. 



Crimson Clover. 



Figure 79 shows a plat of crimson clover, the seed for which 

 was sown August i , the photograph being taken late in October. 

 This clover was growing on land from which a forage crop of oats 

 and peas had been cut. There has been much discussion at 

 Farmers' Institutes and in the columns of the Agricultural press 

 as to the value of crimson clover in this state, as a forage crop 

 and as an improver of the soil. To answer these questions in 

 part and to determine the relative value of the different clovers 

 there were planted side by side on August i, 1896, three plats of 

 clover, one of crimson, one of common red and one of mammoth. 

 The soil were gravelly and porous. All varieties of clover came 

 up quickly and made good growth. The crimson clover, how- 

 ever, made far more rapid growth in the fall than did the others. 



One object of these experiments was to determine the amount 



