337 



Kansas; and for cow-peas, serradella, and pearl millet, which have not 

 been successfully grown at the station. There are also tabulated and 

 descrii)tive notes on 8 varieties of the non- saccharine sorghums. "These 

 non-saccharine sorghums resist drought well, and will give a good crop 

 of both grain and forage in a season that is too dry for corn. These 

 varieties are well adapted to poor soils. Where seed is chiefly desired, 

 red Kaiflr corn ranks first, with the common Kaffir corn a close second. 

 Where forage and seed are both wanted, white millo maize is preferable. 

 Katfir corn stands the wind bette'r on account of its shorter and thicker 

 stalk. Brown dhoura has not received sufficient trial to warrant a 

 conclusion on its merits." Eight Chinese varieties tested proved infe- 

 rior in these trials. Brief notes are given for 8 varieties of millet. In 

 an account of an experiment at the station with kohlrabi it is stated 

 that the yield in 1889 was at the rate of 758 bushels per acre, which was 

 raised at the cost of a little more than 3J cents per bushel. The purple 

 kind is considered better than the green or " white" kinds. "The ad- 

 vantages which this crop possesses are: Insects do not injure it, drought 

 does not prevent its growth, it keeps longer after being harvested than 

 other root-crops, and a stand is easily secured." Tabulated and de- 

 scriijtive notes are given for 13 varieties of silage corn. 



The ideal variety of corn for silage is one that has a tall, slender, short-jointed 

 stalk, well eared, aud bearing an abundance of foliage. The leaves and ears should 

 make up a large percentage of the total weight, and the yield per acre should be 

 heavy. The lower leaves should keep green until the crop is ready to harvest, and 

 it is desirable to have the plant stool well aud throw out tall grain-bearing suckers. 

 For this State a silage variety should mature late — the later the better — as a long- 

 growing, late-maturing sort will furnish much moi-e feed, from a given area, than 

 one tbat ripens early. 



No one variety that has been tried here possesses all these qualities. Among those 

 that approach nearest are the Southern Horse Tooth, Shoe Peg, Brazilian Flour corn 

 Bullock's White Prolific, B. and W., and Red Cob Ensilage. 



Tlie following varieties of winter oats tested at the station are rec- 

 ommended as valuable for pasturage : Gray Winter, Virginia Winter, 

 aud Blue Grazing Winter. 



Silos and silage (pp. 53-65]. — This is a reprint of Bulletin No. 6 of 

 the station (See Experiment Station Kecord, Vol. I, p. 46), with the 

 addition of brief notes on experiments in storing silage in a field pit 

 and in steaming silage. An excavation some 30 feet long, 15 broad, 

 and 2J deep was made in a corn field. In this pit corn stalks with the 

 ears were carefully piled in October and rolled with a heavy iron roller. 

 The stalks were then covered with 4 inches of straw and 20 inches of 

 earth. When the pit was opened late in December the silage was found 

 to be in very excellent condition. This experiment leads the author to 

 suggest that this method of storing silage might be very useful where 

 there is a dry, sandy, friable soil in which a pit with a capacity for 100 

 tons of stalks might be dug at very slight expense and filled without 

 the use of expensive machinery. Three experiments were tried, in which 



