524 



STATE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ON SILAGE CROPS. 



TABLE 22. — THE FOLLOWING TABLE SHOWS THE ANALYSES OF THE FOUR CROPS 

 USED FOR SILAGE IN THE UPPER PENINSULA, 



Kind of silage 



*Corn, normal. .. 

 tCorn, immature 



•Sunflowers 



fPeasand oats.. 

 fClover 



Composition of silage, per cent 



Moisture 



72.35 

 79.00 

 76.35 

 72.50 

 72.20 



Protein 



2.52 

 1.90 

 2 66 

 3.80 

 3.70 



Fat 



0.82 

 0.60 

 0.84 

 1.30 

 1.1 



Crude fiber 



6 20 

 5.80 

 7.14 

 9.60 

 9.00 



Nitrogen 



free 

 extract 



16.93 

 11.30 

 11.16 

 10.00 

 11 SO 



Ash 



1.13 

 1.40 

 1.85 

 2.80 

 2.50 



•A. J. iPatten, Mich. Ex-p. IStation Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 4. 

 fFeed and iFeedlng, Henry and Morrison, Table I Appendix. 



A study of the preceding table shows that normal corn silage and 

 sunflower silage have very nearly the same chemical analysis and that 

 sunflowers show a much better analysis than does immature corn. When 

 we consider the fact that much of the corn going into the silos in the 

 Upper Peninsula is immature, it can be readily seen that sunflowers have 

 a place in our system of agriculture. A careful study of all the analyses 

 will show that the peas and oats and also the clover silage, pound for 

 pound, is higher in analysis than either corn or sunflowers but the 

 fact that sunflowers will yield from three to four times as much silage 

 to the acre as either of these crops gives it another big advantage. 



ROTATION AND FERTILIZATION OF FIELD CROPS IS ESSENTIAL TO 

 PERMANENT AGRICULTURE. 



Proper rotation and fertilization have been recognized as consistent 

 with good farming methods for a great many years. And yet it has 

 been only in the past few years that farmers have realized the penalty for 

 not following such a system. 



In the Upper Peninsula a few sections are beginning to show de- 

 creased crop yields because the soil fertility is being robbed. In the 

 great hay section of Chippewa county, where the practice for years has 

 been to sow oats seeded with timothy hay and cut the hay for the next 

 five to twenty years, then to plow it and again sow to oats seeded with 

 timothy, to be cut as hay for another five to twenty years, the natural 

 fertility of one of the richest soils in the state is being destroyed. In 

 certain other sections the practice is to remove several small grain 

 crops one after the other, thus removing the soil fertility by means of 

 grain crops. On many of these farms the manure, where there is any, 

 is placed on the field or fields nearest the barns with no attempt to 

 cover the entire farm. 



Such farming practices as these can continue for some time on soils 

 naturally high in organic matter and rich in the elements of fertility, 

 but when applied to one of the less fertile types, the fertility is soon 



