18 FORAGE CROPS FOR HOGS IN KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA. 



removed, rye nnd clover may be sown. This will furnish pasture for 

 the ensuing fall and for the following year. This makes a three-year 

 rotation of pasture crops that fit in very well with each other. Pre- 

 paring the land in July and August for the following crop of rye and 

 clover effectually eradicates the artichokes. 



The Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station made a test to deter- 

 mine the feeding value of artichokes with grain for hogs. The result 

 of the test showed that where artichokes were fed there w^as a saving 

 of nearly 2 pounds of grain for every pound of gain in live weight. 

 Besides, the hogs were healthy and vigorous all the time. 



The artichoke is superior to the common beets and turnips for 

 hogs — about the same as potatoes — and they are richer in protein than 

 sweet potatoes. 



Peanuts are but little used in this region, but farther south and east 

 they are used extensively. One man estimates that when pork is 4 

 cents a pound, peanuts return $10 per acre when harvested by hogs. 



The Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station made investiga- 

 tions as to the relative value of peanuts, chufas, cowpeas, rape, sor- 

 ghum, and sweet potatoes as pasture crops for hogs. The amount of 

 grain required with peanuts to make 1 pound of gain was 1.77 

 pounds; with chufas, 2.3 pounds; with rape, 2.68 pounds; with cow- 

 peas, 3.07 pounds; with sweet potatoes, 3,13 pounds, and with sor- 

 ghum, 3.7 pounds. Five Tam worth hogs in twenty days on Spanish 

 peanuts gained 2.29 pounds a day each. 



Peanuts can be very profitably grown in many sections of the 

 latitude of Oklahoma and Kansas, This crop will do better on a 

 sandy loam than on a heavy clay soil, and will make a fair crop on 

 thin soil where corn will not yield well. They are a very good crop 

 to raise, both for jDasture and for hay; stock of all kinds are very 

 fond of the hay, AVhen the nuts are left on, it is richer in protein 

 than alfalfa hay. The variety best to grow, both for hay and pas- 

 ture for hogs, is the Spanish peanut. It is a small-sized nut and 

 grows in great clusters close around the taproot of the plant. The 

 Spanish nut is not so particular in soil requireinents as the Idrger 

 varieties and is easier harvested on account of growing in clusters. 



It is claimed that peanuts can be grown in dry regions where corn 

 will not succeed. This, if true, is important in the southern-plains 

 region. Peanuts can be made to take the place of corn in fattening 

 hogs, although the peanut-fed hog makes softer lard and the quality 

 of the meat is not so good, especially in the bacon hog. But as an 

 adjunct to corn the peanut is an excellent forage crop. It is claimed 

 that the northern-grown nut is better flavored and less oily than that 

 grown in the South. 



Ill— IV 



