EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 287 



the college farm to sow some considerable area to peas, usually with oats. 

 The ground is prepared in the fall and the seed put in the ground at the 

 earliest possible moment in the spring. Two bushels of peas are used 

 per acre. If in the latter part of March the surface of the ground is 

 sufficiently dry the peas are either sown broadcast on the surface and 

 plowed under three to four inches deep or put in with a grain drill as 

 deep as possible. The oats are sown shallow later at the rate of one 

 bushel of oats to the acre. Careful records are not at hand to show the 

 yield per acre of this crop, nor have comparative feeding trials been 

 instituted to determine its relative value compared with clover hay or 

 other forage crops. Experience has demonstrated that cattle like the 

 hay and that they eat it in sufficient quantities to produce a full yield 

 of milk and butter. On several occasions the crop has been harvested 

 into a silo, making a silage richer in protein than any other silage fed at 

 the station. Its per cent of dry matter when fed was 49.92 and its per 

 cent of protein fully 4.5 per cent. When first put in the silo, owing to 

 unusual succulence, the peas and oats make a very wet silage. If 

 the silo is not absolutely tight much of this juice escapes, and the silage 

 when fed is correspondingly dry. 



Alfalfa. — The plot of alfalfa, the behavior and yield of which has been 

 reported in previous bulletins of the Station, was completely destroyed 

 by the severe weather in the early months of 1897. In May hardly a root 

 was left alive, and scarcely a green stem showed above the ground. 



Rape. — A half acre of rape was sown in the spring of 1896 in the east 

 end of Xo. 8, by the side of a similar area of vetches and oats, and near 

 the half acre plots of sorghum and fodder corn, the yields of which are 

 reported on page 98. Three pounds of rape seed were sown April 23d, 

 with a wheelbarrow seeder and the ground was gone over with a light 

 harrow the next day. No further cultivation was given the crop, which 

 was cut and put in the silo June 24th. The total weight of green rape 

 was 6,955 pounds, containing 80.75 per cent of moisture. The yield of 

 dry matter per acre was therefore 2,677.67 pounds. The cows ate the 

 rape silage with evident relish, and no taint was imparted to the milk by 

 it. Further experiment will be necessary to establish the practicability 

 of rape either as green fodder or as silage, for a cow feed. After the 

 removal of the first crop of rape it sprang up again quickly, and was 

 pastured with the half acre of crimson clover adjoining, through the fall. 

 On August 10th it was noted that the sheep much preferred the rape to 

 the crimson clover, and that they had eaten the former well into the 

 ground before attacking the latter, the flock having been put on the 

 field July 27th. 



Millet and Hungarian Grass. — In former bulletins of this Station the 

 investigations in regard to the methods of growing these grasses and the 

 adaptability of the many varieties have been fully discussed. The millet 

 grown on the farm has been fed for the most part as hay. On one or 

 two occasions the green fodder has been put in the silo. The silage is 

 liked by the cows, and when fed keeps up the flow of milk and butter. It 

 is unusually dry for silage, containing, as it did in 1896, but 57.10 per 

 cent of water. When pitched out of the silo it was light and fluffy, 

 resembling hay rather than silage. It had a pleasant odor and kept with 



