262 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



In recent work at the Tennessee Experiment Station an acrs 

 Gi soybeans produced more beef and at less cost per pound than 

 either an acre of corn or an acre of cowpeas. 



In feeding trials conducted by the writer during last winter 

 at the Tennessee station soybean straw and soybean meal fed in 

 proportion as they were grown in the field proved superior to al- 

 falfa hay as a supplement to corn silage and corn and cob meal 

 for milk production. 



I am better acquainted with the growth of the soybean in 

 Tennessee than in Missouri, yet it seems to me that it should do 

 equally as well in Southern Missouri as in Tennessee and should 

 t>G successfully grown throughout the State. 



In Tennessee the soybean adapts itself to late planting better 

 than the cowpea, and for that reason it seems that it would be 

 better suited to our short season or as a catch crop after small 

 grain. It yields as much or more forage than the cowpea and 

 jields more seed. The entire plant cured as hay is about equal 

 to alfalfa hay; the threshed hay is superior to corn stover, and 

 the beans ground in meal are equal to cottonseed meal for milk 

 production. Alfalfa is now being grown in many sections of the 

 State and promises to become a general crop with us. It furnishes 

 one of the best feeds for all kinds of stock, and should be grown 

 wherever it is a success. 



A system of cropping in which clover is used as the main hay 

 crop and corn the main grain crop and cowpeas as a catch crop 

 between the main crops of the rotation should prove successful 

 in this State. The cowpea can also be sown in the corn at last 

 plowing and will make fall pasture after the corn is removed 

 from silage or can be plowed under as a green manure crop. 



If the corn is being grown for silage cowpeas may be drilled 



-in beside the rows of corn and harvested with it and put into the 



silo. This combination makes an excellent silage. Allow me to 



emphasize the value of silage in the dairy ration. The silo has 



not been used in this State as generally as it should be. 



The greater milk flow during the spring and early summer is 

 due to the succulent nature of the grass. Succulence gives to a 

 feed a feeding value above the actual digestible nutrients it con- 

 tains. This value is due largely to the better condition of the di- 

 gestive system, which keeps the animal in better health. Silage 

 will furnish succulence to the winter ration insuring better healtli 

 of the herd and a better milk flow than with dry feeds. Silage re- 

 duces the cost of feeding, since it furnishes the bulk of the ration 



