48 FORAGE CROPS IN NEBRASKA. 



case of the cowpea, growers should endeavor to use home-groAvn seed, 

 which alwaj's aids in such adaptation. For pasture the cowpea is well 

 adapted to cattle, sheep, and, especiall}^ when the pods are ripening, 

 to hogs. Poultry' readily eat the seeds. 



The pasture tests of 1900 (see Bulletin No. 69 of the Nebraska 

 Experimental Station) showed that one-fifth acre furnished twenty da3's' 

 pasture — July 24 to August 13. There was a highly favorable effect 

 upon the milk flow and the butter fat produced, in which respect "the 

 forage far surpassed all of the other crops excei)t alfalfa, and was even 

 slightly superior to that ver}" valuable forage plant." In this test the 

 variety used Avas the Whip-poor-will. 



Two plots of the above variety were sown in 1897 to test the yield 

 of fodder. They were harvested on September 23 and gave at the 

 rate of -l.ST tons and 1.62 tons to the acre. A plot grown in 1896 gave 

 a yield of green fodder amounting to 22,860 pounds per acre, or some- 

 thing over two tons of hay. 



Small Grains. 



For late fall and early spring pasture nothing excels the winter 

 grains in palatabilit}", nutritive qualities, and in quantity of forage. 

 It is customar}^ to utilize winter wheat incidentally for pasture at such 

 seasons of the year in localities where this crop is grown for grain. 

 Rye is frequenth' used for pasture, and this plant is to l>e highly 

 recommended wherever it can be grown as a winter crop. The grains 

 can also be used to advantage as a spring crop, but in this case the 

 pasturage comes later in the season when the want is less keenly felt. 

 R^'e sown in the autumn produces pasture at a season when permanent 

 pastures are dormant or giving only meager returns. 



In the pasturing tests, a one-lifth-acre plot gave about twent3"-seven 

 days' pasturage. ''It furnished the earliest pasturage of au}^ of the 

 annual forage crops and could have been pastured in the fall." 



The siuall grains make an excellent qualit}^ of ha}' and in Nebraska 

 are not infrequently used for this purpose. In California the great 

 bulk of the hav upon the cit}" markets is grain haj^ made from wheat 

 and oats. 



Oats and r^^e are also used in Nebraska as soiling crops during 

 spring and early summer. Although the amount used by each farmer 

 in this wa}" may be small, 3-et the aggregate must be considerable. 



Corn. 



This is by far the most valua])le plant grown in Nebraska, as it is 

 also of the United States. It is grown chiefly for the grain, but in this 

 bulletin we are concerned with its forage Aalue. Where corn is grown 

 for the grain there are two common methods of utilizing tlie stalks. 

 The corn may Ije allowed to mature in the held and the ears husked 



