422 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



COW per month (over cost of feed) was $5,864 with the silage ration and 

 $2,465 with the grain ration." 



The above record is not quite complete for the farmer, however, 

 until the effect of these several crops on the soil is considered. Corn, 

 like other grains, is depleting to the soil, while cow peas and soy beans 

 add about $10 worth of plant food to each acre each season. They can 

 be sown in drills or broadcasted after the wheat is off in June, and be 

 removed in September in time to allow another crop of wheat on the 

 same land if desired. For the good of the soil and for the good of the 

 cows, these two crops, corn and cow peas, should go hand in hand when- 

 ever possible. 



Soy beans occupy practically the same place as cow peas as food 

 for stock. 



Clover has been made into silage with good results, but it is not yet 

 a common crop for the silo. Where it can be cured it serves a better 

 purpose as hay. 



Alfalfa is also ensiled with good effect in some places. In Cali- 

 fornia some advise putting alfalfa into the silo if it is mixed with fox- 

 tail. This seems to disarm the foxtail, but alfalfa, like clover, is more 

 useful as hay. 



Sorghum is often made into silage, and is highly recommended, es- 

 pecially for beef stock and sheep. It is good for the dairy cow, but be- 

 ing so rich in sugar, it would call for a greater expenditure for concen- 

 trated protein foods than would corn. Sorghum silage is very fattening 

 and at the same time keeps the system of the animal in excellent con- 

 dition. 



Sunflower silage has been recommended, and doubtless would be 

 fine if the stock would eat it more readily. Some cows refuse it alto- 

 gether. 



Grasses have been preserved in the silo, but there is little reason for 

 this practice, because most grasses cure so readily as hay. 



Beef fops and pulp in regions of the sugar beet industry are be- 

 coming popular as silage. This is especially the case in Europe. 



Hash. The silo is sometime used as "catch-all" for left-overs. Tn 

 the eastern states, where feed is high in price and strict economy essen- 

 tial, any Canada field peas and oats left over from the early feeding, later, 

 crimson clover, rye, cow peas and com, find their way into this preserver. 

 All manner of odds and ends may be made into good food. Alvord 

 once said that "a mixture of equal parts of ragweed, swamp grass or 

 swale hay, old corn stalks or straw and second crop green clover, nearly 

 three-fourths of which would otherwise be almost useless, will make a 

 superior silage, surprising to those who have never tried it." The same 



