FORAGE CROPS IN NEW ENGLAND. 157 



hay, will produce upon light lands much heavier crops, and 

 can be grown in a very few weeks. 



It can be sown after winter rye, spring grain that has been 

 cut for fodder, and on sod-land, after taking off a crop of 

 hay. Like corn, it is a hot-weather plant, likes a warm, 

 sandy loam, and should not be started till the days begin to 

 grow hot. Sown from the first week in June till the middle 

 of July, a full crop may be expected. I refer now to the 

 common millet with a green head, and the purple-headed 

 Hungarian grass. The golden or German millet requires a 

 longer season by two or three weeks, and makes a much 

 heavier growth. This will grow after winter rye is cut for 

 hay, and will be off in season for sowing rye again, or to seed 

 down with grass. I grew four tons per acre of dry fodder 

 the past summer, after a crop of rye estimated at more than 

 two tons per acre. 



A bushel of seed is sufficient for sowing an acre ; though a 

 little less may be sufficient of the German variety, supposing 

 the seed to be fresh and good. 



When the season gets too late for planting corn or sowing 

 millet, and I find I have any land that would otherwise lie 

 idle, I commence sowing barley for cutting and feeding 

 green in October and November, after corn and millet would 

 be injured by frost. This may be sown after early garden 

 crops are removed, after early potatoes, spring grain of all 

 kinds, early corn, and early millet. If sown any time in 

 July, a full crop may be looked for ; and, in a fairly favora- 

 ble season, much of it will be headed out, if sown through 

 the whole of August. 



It occasionally rusts a little, though much less than fall- 

 sown oats, and it may lodge somewhat if the land be very 

 rich and the season moist ; but it will generally make a satis- 

 factory return for all it costs. I commenced growing it four 

 years ago, and have increased the acreage each year. 



Spring rye and spring wheat have both made good crops 

 with me, sown in the fall ; but my experience with them has 

 not been as extended as with barley. The past two years 

 I have sown, during August, barley and winter rye mixed 

 (half of each), at the rate of three bushels to the acre, and 

 with much satisfaction. The barley should head out a little, 

 while the rye should make a heavy undergrowth, together 



