260 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



From the foregoing table it will be noticed that when alfalfa was 

 fed alone it was about equal to a maintenance ration. The best results 

 from the corn were obtained with a light or medium grain ration. Un- 

 der ordinary conditions alfalfa will forage from twelve to twenty shoats. 

 It begins growing early in the spring and is very excellent for early 

 forage for hogs. Alfalfa and corn will produce a greater net profit to 

 the farmer than any other combination o£ crops known to hog hus- 

 bandry. 



CLOVER. 



Red clover ranks next to alfalfa as a forage plant for hogs. It, 

 liowever, will not feed so many head per acre and has also a shorter 

 forage season. During the season of 1908 the Missouri Experiment 

 Station of the University of Missouri obtained a net result per acre, 

 with pork at six cents, of $37.59 with clover. In this experiment 2.64 

 pounds of corn produced a pound gain. "With the rental value of the 

 land at $3.00 per acre and pork worth five cents, the corn fed was 

 worth $1.00 per bushel. Clover should not be pastured so closely that 

 there will not be some woody growth. 



RAPE FORAGE. 



As one of the annual forage crops, rape is valuable on account of 

 the cheapness of the pasture and quantity of feed furnished and the 

 usual thriftiness of the hogs on the pasture, and also because it adds 

 variety to the ration and is valuable at a time when rations may be 

 short. A good growth of rape will supply pasture for twelve to twenty 

 hogs to the acre. AVith a very rank growth it may supply feed for 

 eighteen to twenty-five head per acre. Under ordinary conditions where 

 the feeding period is to extend from ten to fourteen weeks, it is advisa- 

 ble to pasture at the rate of ten to twelve head per acre. 



Rape is usually sown in the early spring as soon as danger of frost 

 is over and will furnish pasture beginning with the middle of May until 

 the third week in August. The best results are obtained when oats and 

 •clover are sown with it. Sow from four to six pounds of rape ahead of 

 the drill and then drill in one bushel of oats per acre and six to ten 

 pounds of clover seed. If rape is not grazed too closely in the spring 

 -so that the stalk is not eaten off, it may grow up and make fall pasture. 

 It should never be pastured so closely that there are not at all times 

 «ome leaves on the stalk. The leaves are the lungs of the plant, and 

 when deprived of these it is deprived of one of the organs used in 

 growth. It should not be turned onto until the plant has become well 

 developed iind is from fourteen to eighteen inchec in height. It will 



